Fido Raises $30m for Expansion in Africa

Fido, a finance business based in Ghana, has raised $30 million in equity funding and undisclosed loan funding in a Series A round, increasing its total equity funding to $38 million.

Other investors, including Yard Ventures, a venture capital firm run by Harvard alumni, participated in the round, which was led by Israel-based private equity firm Fortissimo Capital. A major barrier to the expansion of many enterprises, Fido focuses on connecting entrepreneurs with financing opportunities in Africa.

The business automates the whole financial services process for clients, including client onboarding, credit analysis, and financial counselling. It makes rapid loan judgments even for consumers with no financial history while assisting in the reduction of operational costs. It does this by leveraging machine learning-risk models.

With its data-driven application built on a distributed cloud architecture, Fido’s real-time machine learning models help increase access to financial services in unbanked regions, make risk scoring and fraud detection based on non-financial data seamless to approve or reject a loan, and deliver market-leading default rates at the same time.

Individuals and small businesses can apply for up to $250 in mobile loans from Fido. These loans can be repaid over the course of up to six months in a single or multiple instalments.