US Tennis Player Serena Williams’ VC Firm Leads Ugandan Fintech’s $12.3 Million Pre-Series A Funding Round – Fintech Bitcoin News

Numida, a Ugandan digital lending startup, announced it would offer its services in Africa to smaller, medium, and large-sized businesses. Numida’s plans to offer its services to businesses beyond Uganda’s borders came shortly after it was announced that the startup had raised a total of $12.3 million in its pre-Series A funding round. The funding round was led by Serena Ventures. This venture capital company was founded in part by Serena Williams (American tennis player).

Africa’s small businesses have the potential to unlock their potential

Numida is a Ugandan fintech that claims it will expand its digital lending operations outside Uganda using some of its $12.3 million pre-Series A equity debt funding. The round was led by the U.S. tennis star Serena Williams’ venture capital firm Serena Ventures. Breega, 4Di Capital Launch Africa, Soma Capital, Soma Capital, and Y Combinator were also part of this round.

In comments following Numida’s successful capital raise, co-founder and CEO Mina Shahid reportedly touted the impact of the financial products his company has been availing to small businesses in Uganda, and how this can be replicated in other African countries. Shahid said:

I’m most excited about continuing to build and provide financial products for these micro and small business owners …. There are so many of these businesses across the continent, we really do believe that we’ve proven a model in Uganda that can be Pan-African and unlock the potential of these businesses to grow and achieve great things.

Small- and Medium-Sized Businesses are Prioritized

Techcrunch reported that Numida has placed a high priority on serving MSMEs (micro, small and mid-sized enterprises) as these are often marginalized in traditional financial institutions. Numida plans to expand its client base by 40,000 using the capital it raised recently. According to the report, Numida plans to expand its operations in two other countries as part of this fintech startup.

The report states that Numida has granted MSMEs $20 million of working capital since 2021. It raised $2.3 Million in 2021. Numida, which was recently supported by Lendable Asset Management and lent $5 Million to the startup, will raise the loan value as well as remodel the products in order to make them more affordable.

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Terence Zimwara

Terence Zimwara, a Zimbabwean journalist, writer and author who has been awarded the Zimbabwe Booker Prize. He is a prolific writer on the economic woes of African countries, as well as digital currencies that can be used to provide an escape path for Africans.