Nigeria-based Lidya, which offers small business loans, has reportedly raised $8.3m in its pre-Series B funding round.
The capital injection was led by Alitheia Capital, with commitments also coming from Bamboo Capital Partners, Accion Venture Lab and Flourish Ventures, according to a report from TechCrunch. As part of the deal, Bamboo Capital Partners deployed a $300,000 credit facility into Lidya.
This equity infusion will help the company to extend its lending capacity across Africa and Europe.
Lidya was launched in 2016 after its founders, Tunde Kehinde and Ercin Eksin, saw a need for improved lending services. This realisation became apparent whilst working at logistics service provider Africa Courier Express, the article said. The need saw Africa Courier Express offer lending options, with many clients struggling.
Kehinde and Eksin went on to create Lidya as a solution to the gap in the market. The platform offers consumers with access to working capital loans, invoice financing and vendor financing. To get a loan, a customer simply uploads their bank statements and they will be analysed within 24 hour to see if they are eligible for a loan.
As for invoice financing, the customer simply leverages the mobile app to issue invoices to their clients and can manage all outstanding invoices through the platform. The customer can also access loans for any unpaid invoices.
Lidya co-founder and CEO Tunde Kehinde said, “Our more than 90% customer repeat rate in Nigeria and Europe demonstrates that we are providing a service that SMEs need. At the height of the pandemic, we began lending in Europe and have been a vital means of financial support for businesses across multiple sectors, including healthcare, grocery and other essential sectors.
“Lidya remains committed to our founding principle of providing credit to leading small
businesses across multiple sectors. As the world begins to emerge from this crisis, we are
committed to enabling a strong ecosystem of leading SMEs with innovative products that
allow them to unlock their potential and help growing economies to build back better.”
Lidya previously raised $6.9m in its Series A and $1.3m in its seed round.
There has been a recent flurry of Nigerian FinTech companies to raised funding rounds. Earlier this week, AI-powered lending platform Payhippo secured $1m in funding.
Other Nigerian companies to close deals recently include TeamApt, which provides financial services to the underserved market in Africa, and FairMoney, a neobank.
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