Lidya, a quick loan startup, raises $8.3 million in pre-Series B funding
Lidya, a quick loan startup, raises $8.3 million in pre-Series B funding
Lidya, a Nigerian lending startup, has raised a pre-Series B funding round of $8.3 million to expand its lending operations across its markets.
Alitheia Capital led the funding round with its uMunthu Fund. Bamboo Capital Partners, Accion Venture Lab, and Flourish Ventures are also investors.
Tokunboh Ishmael, co-founder and managing director of Alitheia Capital, expressed excitement about the investment.
According to him, "Lidya is addressing the fundamental challenge of expanding credit to dynamic small and growing businesses in Africa and Europe that would otherwise have few options for financing working capital to scale their businesses."
The latest pre-Series B round follows the company's 2017 acquisition of a $6.9 million Series A and a $1.3 million seed round. The Nigerian fintech now has a total funding of $16.5 million.
The company intends to use the additional funding to expand its lending operations for small and medium-sized businesses across its markets.
The quickest SME loan plug
Lidya is a fintech company founded in 2016 by Tunde Kehinde and Ercin Eksin that provides financing based on the cash flow in your bank account and without the need for collateral.
The startup bills itself as a marketplace for short-term loans. On its platform, businesses can create accounts and apply for loans ranging from $500 to $50,000, with approvals occurring within 24 hours.
Since its inception, Lidya has disbursed over 25,000 loans and claims to have a customer retention rate of more than 90%.
The company expanded its lending operations to Poland and the Czech Republic in October 2019. However, the company's operations did not begin in earnest until March 2020.
Despite the pandemic, Lidya reports that it has already distributed more than $3 million to SMEs in its two new markets. At the moment, both European markets account for approximately 30% of the company's disbursement volume, with an overall default rate of less than 1%.
In conclusion
Lidya intends to use this funding to further establish its presence in the three markets.
In addition, the company's leadership structure has changed. Eksin, Lidya's co-founder, has departed to pursue other endeavors, while Kehinde assumes sole CEO duties.
Along with market expansion, Lidya intends to expand its team in Lagos, Prague, and Warsaw, as well as use a portion of the funds to support additional lines of credit.
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