To roll out credit union-powered neobank, $4 M seed funding received by Kenya’s Kwara
Kwara, a Kenyan business that is assisting traditional savings cooperatives in becoming contemporary digital banks, has acquired US $4 million in initial investment to further build its neobank app ahead of its imminent launch.
Kwara is a digital banking platform founded in 2018 by Cynthia Wandia and David Hwan to enable unbanked and underbanked people develop wealth together in a seamless way. It features a management platform for cooperative workers to drive efficiency and automation, as well as a neobank-style mobile banking app for end-clients, as well as other outlets.
Meanwhile, Kwara uses an open API to connect the savings cooperatives with banks, payment gateways, and other third parties. All of this is included in a single software-as-a-service package, which means cooperative clients only pay for what they use and receive a single end-to-end solution. The multi-accelerated startup already has over 60,000 subscribers and a monthly transaction volume of close to $40 million on its platform. Kwara is increasing its credit union user base by 40% month over month, including consumers in Kenya, South Africa, and the Philippines.
Kwara has raised $4 million in a seed round from investors in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the United States (US). SoftBank Vision Fund Emerge, Finca Ventures, New General Market Partners, Globivest, Do Good Invest, Rabacap, Launch Africa, Norrsken Impact Accelerator, Future Africa, Samurai Incubator, and DOB Equity led the round, which also included several fintech executives, including founders of Meltwater, The Flex Company, and ComplyAdvantage, as well as executives from Salesforce and PayPal.
The funding follows the company’s strong sales growth and comes ahead of the launch of its neobank app. The funding will be used to further build the startup’s software, which will allow credit unions in emerging economies to digitise and offer financial services to millions of people.
“We are building a solution for people – an estimated one billion – who do not currently have access to personalised banking services. This is the result of a gap in banking-grade technology and the lack of neobank-like experiences for the end clients. We’ve been thrilled to see the excitement around the Kwara brand among credit unions and their members, which is fast becoming synonymous with a superior user experience and the future of banking,” said Kwara CEO Cynthia Wandia.
“Thanks to our investors, we will now be able to offer an end-client experience that is 100 times better than what they previously had access to.”
According to Ben Marrel, a founding partner of Breega, there is growing interest in how to develop wealth through community and a movement in consumer preferences toward digital-first banking.
