Kenya’s Fintech, Kwara Raises $4m in Seed Round

Kenyan Fintech startup, Kwara, which is helping to turn traditional savings cooperatives into modern digital banks, has raised $4m in a seed round.

Investors who took part in the funding round include Breega VC firm, SoftBank Vision Fund Emerge, Finca Ventures, New General Market Partners, Globivest, Do Good Invest, Rabacap, Launch Africa, Norrsken Impact Accelerator, Future Africa, Samurai Incubate, DOB Equity, and Fintech angels.

Kwara was launched in 2018 by Cynthia Wandia and David Hwan, to support the financial goals of cooperatives.

Through its all-in-one software-as-a-service package, Kwara enables cooperative clients to pay for their usage and get a single end-to-end solution by connecting the savings cooperatives with banks, payment gateways, and other third parties.

Kwara, which serves over 60,000 members and handles up to US$40 million in monthly transactions on its platform expanded to South Africa and the Philippines, as the demand for its services grew beyond Kenya.

Kwara CEO Cynthia Wandia expressed delight in the funding as she said it will help the startup build on its existing service delivery.

“We are building a solution for people – an estimated one billion – who do not currently have access to personalized banking services. This is the result of a gap in banking-grade technology and the lack of neobank-like experiences for the end clients. We’ve been thrilled to see the excitement around the Kwara brand among credit unions and their members, which is fast becoming synonymous with a superior user experience and the future of banking.

“Thanks to our investors, we will now be able to offer an end-client experience that is 100 times better than what they previously had access to,” said Wandia.

The startup says it will use the funding to build a neobank app that will enable individuals to sign-up with their preferred credit unions to access various financial services.