JUMO, a Cape Town-based company that is known for operating one of the largest mobile financial services marketplaces in emerging markets, announced a $12.5 million investment from Odey Asset Management. Odey Asset Management partner James Hanbury is joining the board at JUMO in conjunction with this funding round.
With this investment, it marks the formal close of JUMO’s most recent equity funding round. Goldman Sachs was the principal lead investor for the $52 million raise in September along with Proparco, Finnfund, Vostok Emerging Finance, Gemcorp Capital, and LeapFrog Investments.
JUMO is going to further develop its technology platform, expand its market, and deepen data capabilities in applied machine learning and artificial intelligence to accelerate financial inclusions in key markets like Africa and Asia. JUMO has offices in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ghana, Zambia, Pakistan, United Kingdom, Singapore, and South Africa. And the company set up its Asia Pacific headquarters in Singapore earlier this year. In 2019, the company is going to enter several new Asian markets.
“The closure of this latest funding round is a fantastic endorsement of JUMO’s track record in developing inclusive financial infrastructure and information capability. We have a proven business model, evidenced in the strategic partnerships we have built with forward-thinking banks, mobile money operators and partners like Uber,” said JUMO CEO Andrew Watkins-Ball in a statement. “I am pleased to conclude 2018 with yet another milestone achievement for the company. In addition, I am excited to welcome Odey Asset Management as a strategic investor and James Hanbury to the Board, to help us better realize our mission to advance financial inclusion.”
Since launching in 2014, JUMO has raised over $103 million. And now more than 10 million people have saved or borrowed on the JUMO platform since then. And nearly 70% of that amount was provided to micro and small business owners across Africa and Asia. JUMO originated nearly $1 billion in loans and maintained savings growth of over 50% month-on-month on its platform, which handles over 45 million customer interactions per month.
The company has a partner ecosystem of leading banks and mobile money operators — which doubled over the past year. These partners tap into JUMO’s platform to offer individuals and small business savings, credit, and insurance products via mobile devices. As a result, nearly 120 million mobile users are able to connect to the JUMO platform.
Another interesting product that JUMO launched is in partnership with Uber. The JUMO Drive product provides a unique digital vehicle finance product that eases barriers to car ownership for existing Uber driver-partners. And JUMO is going to expand this offering to other ride-hailing services across Sub-Saharan Africa and beyond.
“JUMO’s agile and adaptable platform is a force for good which has contributed to greater financial inclusion and advancements in the traditional lending sector, through its fair exchange of value with partners,” added Hanbury. “I am pleased to have joined JUMO as a Non-Executive Director and look forward to working with the executive team to support the attainment of its ambitions.”
Article by Annie Baker, Pulse 2.0
