Nigeria-based digital bank Kuda has secured around $25 million in its Series A funding round, media reports said. The funding round was led by New York-based venture capital firm Valar Ventures.
Other investors that also participated in the funding round for Kuda include Target Global, an international venture capital firm headquartered in Berlin, and several other existing investors.
With regard to the funding, Babs Ogundeyi, chief executive officer (CEO) and co-founder of Kuda told the media, “At Kuda, we know that the companies which are best able to leverage technology and talent will be the same companies which are best positioned to provide huge numbers of people across Africa with access to a vastly improved financial system that places the customer at its centre. We recognise the great strides that we have taken to get to the point at which we are now, but even more importantly we recognise just how far we still have to go to achieve our objective of providing every African with access to powerful, appropriate and affordable financial services.”
“With this in mind, we could not be more pleased that Valar Ventures has decided to come on board and join us on this mission. Their insights and experience in helping advise some of the world’s most successful challenger banks will, without doubt, be a critical part of our successes going forward.”
Kuda received regulatory approval and a digital banking licence from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in June 2019. This made Kuda Nigeria’s first and only full-stack and mobile-first bank, allowing Nigerians to run a current account, save money, and earn annual interest.