African digital bank raises $2m in funding
Umba, the digital bank for emerging markets, has announced a $2 million seed funding round to expand product capabilities in Africa.
Currently operating in Kenya and Nigeria, Umba offers a safe, transparent and accessible digital financial service alternative to legacy African banks. The full-service digital banking app is bringing the next generation of financial services to the underserved and rapidly emerging market that exists in Africa.
Investors in the recent funding include Lachy Groom, ex head of issuing at Stripe, who is adding Umba to his growing portfolio which includes notable investments in Notion and Superhuman. Ludlow Ventures also participated in the round, building on its success in fintech investing after the recent sale of Honey to PayPal for $4 billion. Meanwhile, Frontline Ventures and Act Venture Capital added to their previous investment in the company.
Umba offers its services through a mobile app where customers have access to a free checking account, free instant peer-to-peer money transfers, lending, deposits, bill pay and cashback. This eliminates the high-cost barriers and inconvenient payment processing methods found across traditional banking institutions in African countries that make basic banking inaccessible for millions of people. It opens up a range of new financial services and provides accessibility to those who previously had limited banking options.
Umba is currently available in Kenya and Nigeria, representing the top two markets for venture investment in Africa, with a combined population of over a quarter of a billion people. The funding will enable Umba to expand and scale its product offering across these two markets in the coming months, adding debit cards, saving schemes and referrals.
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