Andrew Watkins-Ball, founder and group CEO of JUMO.

Fintech firm JUMO has extended over US$2.5-billion in credit in their six markets in Africa and Asia.

A statement released by the company says the milestone was reached just over 18 months after crossing the US$1B mark in 2019, “and indicates exponential growth in the access to and availability of working capital for customers, with an average customer default rate of less than 5%.”

Andrew Watkins-Ball, Founder & Group CEO, said this achievement is evidence of the success of JUMO’s unique business model, its ability to reach unbanked populations and to provide market-leading infrastructure for financial services.

“The thing that makes me most proud of this milestone is not the amount in dollars, it’s the millions of customers that we have served. Behind each dollar is a human story of someone who has put that capital to work to grow their business. These people are the backbone of their families, their communities, and the lifeblood of emerging market economies,” said Watkins-Ball.

JUMO partners with funders, banks and telecommunications companies to power a new generation of financial tools. The company was founded in London in 2015 and uses mobile wallet technology with data-driven credit prediction models to provide digital financial services infrastructure to partners, and products at scale to customers in emerging markets.

According to the company, over 76% of the 1.7B people in the world who lack access to finance are in Africa, while over 32% of adults in South Asia are unbanked.

“When we founded JUMO, we were always clear that we can only achieve our mission by leveraging sophisticated information technologies at really low cost,” said Watkins-Ball. “The increase in our prediction capability decreases the cost of credit risk, allowing us to share more value with customers while driving sustainable returns for our bank partners.”

Already active in Uganda, Zambia, Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania and Pakistan, JUMO has plans to launch in Côte d’Ivoire and Nigeria in the coming months.

“We’re optimistic about the possibilities in these markets and continue to see huge growth opportunities in Africa, with the potential to replicate our successes in other markets over the longer term,” added Watkins-Ball.

In February the company announced that it had raised US$55-million in funding from existing and new investors to support its expansion into new markets.

ITWeb Africa reported that the company last raised funding in December 2018, and has now taken the total secured investment to US$158-million with a US$55 million debt and equity funding round which introduced new investors to join existing ones such as Goldman Sachs, Odey Asset Management and Leapfrog Investments.