South African Fintech Kuunda Secures $7.5M in Pre-Series A to Expand Digital Lending Across Africa and MENA

Platform has enabled over 10 million users to access credit and facilitated $3 billion in loan disbursements through bank partnerships since launch

Andrew Milne, co-founder and co-CEO at Kuunda.

South Africa-based fintech Kuunda has closed a $7.5 million pre-Series A financing round to expand its digital lending infrastructure across Africa and the Middle East-North Africa region. The company operates a business-to-business lending-as-a-service platform that embeds credit products into existing digital ecosystems.

Founded in 2018, Kuunda partners with mobile money operators, point-of-sale network providers, e-commerce platforms, and financial institutions to integrate overdraft and working capital solutions directly into their services. The platform uses behavioral credit scoring based on digital transaction data to evaluate creditworthiness in markets where traditional credit histories are sparse.

The funding round drew participation from Portugal Gateway Fund, Seedstars Africa Ventures, 4Di Capital, Accion Ventures, Nedbank, and E4E Africa. Investors are backing Kuunda's approach to addressing liquidity gaps for mobile money agents, merchants, and small businesses operating in informal economies.

Since launching operations, Kuunda has facilitated credit access for more than 10 million end users. The platform currently processes over $100 million in monthly credit disbursements for two million customers through its banking partnerships. Cumulative loan volume through the platform has reached $3 billion.

The company expanded rapidly throughout 2024, moving beyond its initial markets in Tanzania and Pakistan to establish operations in Uganda, Malawi, Kenya, and Mozambique. This geographic expansion reflects demand for working capital solutions tailored to entrepreneurs and micro, small, and medium enterprises in emerging markets.

"We are unlocking access to finance for Africa's productive class – the agents, merchants, and small businesses that are the backbone of these economies, whilst helping consumers build up resilience by accessing credit when they need it the most," said Andrew Milne, co-founder and co-CEO at Kuunda.

Milne added that the capital will accelerate market entry across the continent and support development of additional financing products designed for the region's economic realities.

Erik Van Veen, partner at Portugal Gateway Fund, highlighted Kuunda's data infrastructure as a key differentiator. "By turning billions of digital transactions into actionable risk insights, Kuunda makes last-mile lending sustainable, repeatable and profitable," Van Veen said in a statement.

The platform's credit scoring methodology analyzes behavioral patterns from digital transactions rather than relying on conventional credit bureau data, enabling financial institutions to extend services to previously underserved segments at scale. This approach addresses a structural challenge in markets where large portions of economic activity occur outside formal banking systems.

Kuunda plans to deploy the fresh capital toward geographic expansion and product development, with particular focus on embedding credit solutions more deeply into mobile money and digital commerce infrastructure across target markets.