The Fintech industry is bubbling with activity not only around the world but also here in Kenya.
One of such startups shaking up the industry is Nairobi-Berlin-based Kwara.
Kwara is offering SACCOs in Nairobi its proprietary backend-as-a-service (BaaS) software to help them make the necessary shift into the imminent digital future.
With such a platform, any credit union can easily attract, convert, and retain members with instant loans coupled with higher returns.
Kwara is also on the verge of launching another bundle of innovation.
Recently Kwara, which was launched in 2019 with the goal of helping SACCOs (credit unions) grow into digital banks, secured a seed round of $4 million from Breega, SoftBank.
With the money, the startup is embarking on a move to develop a revolutionary neobank that will empower credit union members to access instant loans with ease alongside other services including insurance.
With such an app, individuals can sign up with any of their chosen SACCOs and gain access to various financial services.
“We want to make credit unions as efficient as they can be by giving their members the kind of neobank experiences they wish to have,” Kwara co-founder and CEO, Cynthia Wandia told TechCrunch.
At the same time, it will be interesting to watch the space given there are other startups in Africa, particularly in Kenya already experiencing the success ahead of Kwara. For example Jisort and Pezesha.
Jisort is a secure, compliant Cloud Banking platform designed to help financial institutions to automate services, launch digital banking products in hours. Pay as you go, scale on-demand model.
With its epic end-to-end modern core banking platform, Jisort can take up a wide range of financial products including table banking lending, term deposits among others, making it one of the best feature-rich core banking platforms in Africa.
Jisort’s success is driven by ease of use and a large number of integrations supported.
All in all, the fintech (Saas) industry in Kenya is just coming up. And with these three startups in the lead, we should expect more innovations.
Kwara, Jisort, and Pezesha have already been able to prove that Africa’s financial sector requires innovations from Africa. Continued transformations will definitely foster the emergence of more solutions in Africa.
Kwara’s fundraising has positioned them on the right path to achieving their mission of ‘making building wealth together frictionless’ a success.
The investment will also open an opportunity for other startups to attract investments. Is this an indication that Silicon Savannah will match Silicon Valley anytime soon..? Definitely Not.
