Pezesha Licensed To Operate Fully In Uganda

Pan-African embedded finance Fintech Pezesha is now fully licensed to operate in Uganda, the company has announced.

“We are excited to announce that Pezesha is now fully licensed to operate in Uganda and impact more MSMEs with affordable financial services and forge deeper embedded finance partnerships in Uganda. We received our Mobile Lending License, thanks to Uganda Microfinance Regulatory Authority (UMRA) and we also received our Digital Lending License, thanks to National Information Technology Authority-Uganda,” the company said on its LinkedIn page.

Last year, Pezesha raised a pre-series A investment of $11 Million to grow its presence in East Africa and expand its digital lending infrastructure to the West African market.

The round was a mix of $6 million equity and $5 million debt. The funding round was led by Women’s World Banking Capital Partners II (WWBCP II). Other investors include Verdant Frontiers Fintech Fund (an early-stage African Fintech Fund focused on accelerating financial inclusion), cFund and IOG, ventures investing in innovations layering blockchain infrastructure, Talanton (values-driven private impact investment fund) and Verdant Capital Specialist Funds investing debt in this round.

Pezesha allows partners to integrate with its APIs and offer credit among other financial services to their merchant network at the point of sale. Pezesha’s credit scoring APIs act as the engine of a simple but robust process where MSMEs receive real-time loan offers to purchase stock and pay later.

It also offers financial literacy courses and debt counselling to MSMEs who do not qualify for loans to improve their credit scoring and ensure responsible borrowing as they grow within the Pezesha financial ladder.

In the last 2 years, the company says it has grown the value of its disbursements by over 2,000 per cent through the disbursement of more than 100,000 loans to MSMEs in Kenya, Uganda, and Ghana.