Emmanuel Ojukwu
Financial technology firm JUMO has announced plans to expand into high-growth Asian markets following the company’s successful equity funding round, backed by Goldman Sachs.
Founded in 2014, JUMO has primarily concentrated on Africa, leveraging mobile money adoption to facilitate access to savings and credit products for individuals and small businesses via mobile devices. With its headquarters in Cape Town, JUMO has established offices in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ghana, Zambia, and the United Kingdom.
“That doesn’t mean though we won’t be expanding in Africa. But the majority of our allocation of resources going forward we would expect to be in very high-growth Asian markets”, the company noted.
In its latest fundraising round, JUMO secured $52 million in funding, with Goldman Sachs leading the investment. Other notable investors included Proparco, Finnfund, Vostok Emerging Finance, Gemcorp Capital, and LeapFrog Investments.
“There is immense opportunity across Africa and beyond for JUMO to build on their successful track record developing digital marketplace infrastructure,” Goldman Sachs executive director Jules Frebault said.
JUMO uses behavioral data such as mobile telephone use to help financial services providers and mobile network operators assess lending risk and tailor financial products to those living in developing countries where credit information is scarce.
