Indicina Raises $3million in a Seed Round

Indicina, which is focused on developing API-driven credit infrastructure for Africa, raised $3 million in a Seed round to help the company maintain its commitment to the credit value chain.

Greycroft and RV Ventures also participated in this round, which was led by Target Global. Ricardo Schaefer, a Partner at Target Global, will also be joining the board of directors.

This new round of finance will help the company expand into new African markets. It will also allow the team to improve key product offerings, develop more consumer credit recommendation tools, and strengthen its infrastructure.

Africa’s finance infrastructure is inadequate, and low-risk innovation is prevalent. According to the World Bank, only 11 percent of its population has their credit information recorded by private credit bureaus, compared to 16 percent in East Asia and 47 percent in Latin America, and only 17 percent of African banking customers have consumer loans, compared to less than half of those with a transaction product.

“We are firm believers that access to credit is a vital component of financial inclusion and are thrilled to back Indicina, whose mission is to ensure that eligibility for loans is no longer decided by incomplete creditworthiness assessments,” said Ricardo Schäefer, Partner at Target Global.

On the continent, the rise of digital financial services is quickening, with non-bank businesses leading the drive (notably Telcos and FinTechs). A growing digital payment infrastructure and more open banking start-ups delivering better datasets for digital lending are examples of this. Companies must create increasingly inventive applications that take advantage of the data surplus. Our architecture sits on top of consumer data infrastructure, giving clients better insights and helping them to launch more innovative solutions faster.

“Limited credit access in Africa is a data issue, not a creditworthiness one,” says the author. We’re bringing opportunities to life by removing the barriers to data availability that underwriters need to make choices. Indicina’s ability to broaden the range of financial services offered to consumers and businesses across Africa excites us.” Greycroft Partner Will Szczerbiak added.

This new round of funding will fuel Indicina’s next phase’s operations.