South Africa-based, JUMO, the largest and fastest growing technology platform for operating inclusive mobile financial services marketplaces, recently announced the close of an equity funding round of USD$52 million led by Goldman Sachs, with participation from other leading investors including Proparco, the private sector financing arm of the French Development Agency (AFD), Finnfund, Vostok Emerging Finance, Gemcorp Capital, and LeapFrog Investments. This funding round represents Goldman Sachs, Proparco and Finnfund’s maiden investments into JUMO.
The funds raised will be used to further JUMO’s growth and expansion into new markets. Since its launch in 2014, more than 9 million people have saved or borrowed on the JUMO platform, with nearly 70% of these being micro and small business owners. To date, JUMO has originated over USD$700 million in loans on its platform and manages over 25 million customer interactions per month
Since its founding in 2014, JUMO, which helps individuals and small businesses access savings and credit products through their mobile devices, has mainly focused on Africa where the adoption of mobile money has transformed the banking landscape.
Headquartered in Cape Town, JUMO has offices in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ghana, Zambia and the United Kingdom.
But it now operates in Pakistan, and CEO Andrew Watkins-Ball recently moved to JUMO’s Singapore office to lead the drive into Asia.
“That doesn’t mean though we won’t be expanding in Africa,” Watkins-Ball reiterated. “But the majority of our allocation of resources going forward we would expect to be in very high-growth Asian markets.”
JUMO uses behavioural 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.
Watkins-Ball said that the financial services sectors of a number of Asian markets are at similar stages of development to the African countries where JUMO has already registered success.
More than 9 million people have saved or borrowed using JUMO technology since it was launched in 2014. The platform has originated over $700 million in loans and manages over 25 million customer interactions per month, the company said.
“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’s partners include telecoms firms MTN, Airtel, Telenor and banks including FNB, a unit of South Africa’s FirstRand, and Pakistan’s Telenor Microfinance Bank.
About JUMO
JUMO is a rapidly scaling technology company providing information services, financial infrastructure and products designed to reach the 80% of the world’s population who are excluded or underserved by traditional financial services. JUMO partners with forward-thinking businesses such as banks and mobile networks to reach these customers, operating inclusive marketplaces for digital financial services.
JUMO currently has over 350 employees across Africa and Asia, approximately two-thirds of which are specialists in the areas of software engineering, data science, prediction, analytics and finance.
ABOUT Goldman Sachs
The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is a leading global investment banking, securities and investment management firm that provides a wide range of financial services to a substantial and diversified client base that includes corporations, financial institutions, governments and individuals. Founded in 1869, the firm is headquartered in New York and maintains offices in all major financial centers around the world.
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