Verdant Capital is proud to announce the successful completion of a USD 3 million investment loan through its Verdant Capital Hybrid Fund into Bfree, a pioneering ethical digital credit collection company operating across Africa. This strategic investment will be used to finance the acquisition of distressed loan portfolios from inclusive financial institutions across the continent—an area that remains significantly underdeveloped in African financial markets.
Founded in 2020, Bfree has emerged as a leader in ethical and technology-driven debt recovery. The company specializes in managing distressed loan portfolios using digital-first, data-driven, and globally compliant ethical collection practices. Its approach addresses long-standing challenges in Africa’s distressed debt space, including:
- Inefficient and outdated collection procedures
- Lack of reliable data for portfolio valuation
- Legal and regulatory hurdles in loan transferability
- Price volatility in secondary loan markets
- Weak judicial enforcement mechanisms
Bfree’s proprietary loan portfolio pricing model, which leverages internal data to predict repayment behavior, enables more accurate valuation and recovery forecasting. Since its inception, Bfree has served over 6.6 million borrowers, managing distressed portfolios valued at more than USD 740 million across its operational markets.
This investment aligns with the Verdant Capital Hybrid Fund’s mandate to support financial institutions and promote financial inclusion. By enabling Bfree to purchase and rehabilitate distressed portfolios—often written down to zero—this initiative injects capital and liquidity back into the financial system. It also allows lenders to refocus on their core mission of providing credit, while helping defaulted borrowers improve their repayment rates, credit scores, and financial well-being.
In addition to the financial investment, Bfree will benefit from the Fund’s technical assistance facility, which supports operational enhancements and capacity building for portfolio companies. The transaction also delivers a return consistent with the Fund’s performance targets, reinforcing the value of investing in high-impact, scalable financial inclusion solutions in emerging markets.
