Umba, a Nigerian digital banking startup, has secured $15 million in Series A funding to address the underserved market.
Costanoa Ventures led the round, which also included Nubank, Monzo co-founder Tom Blomfield, and previous investors Lachy Groom and ACT Ventures, Lux Capital, Palm Drive Capital, Banana Capital, and Streamlined Ventures.
Umba is an African digital bank that offers consumers free bank accounts and financial services. It was founded in 2018 by Barry O’Mahony and Tiernan Kennedy.
“In both banking and mobile money sectors, we created fundamental banking systems from the ground up and can give a tailored experience for the consumer at the drop of a hat,” Kennedy added.
“We can take all of that open financial data and underwrite it at scale with these various fragmented payment and data types.” In practice, this means we’re multi-currency, multi-country, and capable of handling a wide range of payment types. And all of this takes time. Then there’s the capacity to move really quickly against opponents.” Kennedy was also mentioned.
Following a $2 million seed round in 2020, the latest funding brings the total amount raised to $17.5 million.
With the new capital, the company will be able to test an interoperable digital banking experience across African markets, as well as its services in Egypt, Ghana, and Kenya.
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