Singapore’s CredoLab, a developer of bank-grade digital credit scorecards based on smartphone metadata that launched in South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya, has secured US$7-million in Series A funding to expand its reach in Africa and markets.

Launched in Singapore in 2016, CredoLab develops bank-grade digital scorecards for companies that need to make better credit decisions, including banks, lenders, e-commerce, travel, ride-hailing, e-wallets, insurance, and retail companies.

It uses smartphone and web metadata to help clients to expand their market share and decrease their cost of risk in real time, and has so far powered almost US$2-billion in loans issued by more than 70 clients across over 20 countries.

The US$7-million round was led by GBG, a global specialist in identity data intelligence, and also saw participation from Walden International, an existing investor, and Access VC, among other new investors.

CredoLab company launched operations in three African countries last year, and will use some of this funding to expand its reach on the continent and consolidate its leadership in Southeast Asia and growing in Latin America, Asia and key countries across the European Union.

“As the COVID-19 pandemic abates, we have seen a significant shift from physical originations to digital ones and an increased appetite in using alternative sources of data. CredoLab has continued to provide a stable behavioural score that has kept its predictive power even in the presence of payment holidays when lenders can't rely on credit bureau scores,” said Peter Barcak, CEO and founder of CredoLab.

“Our offering is positioned to support economic recovery in the markets we operate in by enabling individuals and businesses to start trading again. We have become an essential part of the recovery strategies of our clients as they restart lending in the post-COVID-19 environment in a risk-controlled way.”

Chris Clark, chief executive of GBG, said his company’s fraud and compliance solution allowed financial institutions to on-board and transact with their customers quickly, safely, and securely.

“CredoLab’s AI-based proprietary technology will complement our existing offering and also provide critical behavioural risk reference data from good customers that are financially excluded,” he said.