Aella Credit said it has secured a $10 million debt financing round from Singaporean company – HQ Financial Group. This information is contained in a press statement that was released via the financial technology (fintech) company’s website earlier this morning.
According to the statement, the new capital raise from Singapore is expected to facilitate the credit company’s effort to provide financial inclusion to many more of the people who are currently unbanked across Nigeria, West Africa, and other emerging markets.
This is Aella Credit’s second capital raise. The first round of fundraising was in 2017 when the fintech company raised an undisclosed amount from various investors, including American seed accelerator – Y Combinator
Following its establishment in 2015, Aella Credit has been competing with other players in the fintech lending space to provide quick loans to Nigerians. It uses various schemes, including its employer-backed and direct to consumer verticals. The company claims that it has so far met the credit needs of more than three hundred thousand (300, 000) people.
Commenting on this latest capital raise, Akin Jones, who co-founded Aella Credit and currently serves as its Chief Executive Officer, said the money would be invested various new products. These products, including one called Creditcoin, will enable the fintech company to build borrower creditworthiness.
It stated, “Lack of access to credit and financial services has been the main impediment to MSME growth and poverty reduction in several emerging economies. Aella’s commitment to providing trustworthy credit to millions of people in the world’s emerging markets is improving financial inclusion, enabling MSME expansion and accelerating economic growth and this raise will allow us scale our expansion across Africa quickly.
“We are building a one-stop app for all transactions partnered with regulated industry leaders to help distribute products faster, better and cheaper to end-users in Nigeria and across the markets we plan to launch. This app will allow users access multiple financial services at low costs compared to what is currently available in market.”