SC Ventures, a Standard Chartered platform, and Yabx Technologies (Netherlands) B.V., a company of Tech Mahindra, have signed a set of shareholder and technology collaboration agreements to jointly invest $10 million in Furaha. This investment aims to enhance access to purpose-driven financing across Africa.
Furaha, incubated by SC Ventures and co-founded by Yustus Aribariho and Ian Fernandes, is a purpose-driven lending platform focused on enhancing financial accessibility throughout sub-Saharan Africa.
Furaha’s initial product offering targets the education financing sector. The company is strategically headquartered in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) and has begun its market penetration in Africa, starting with Uganda as its primary entry point.
SC Ventures has invested $7 million in funding, complemented by Yabx BV’s contributions through technology transfer, resulting in a total investment of $10 million in Furaha.
“We are glad to partner with like-minded innovators like Yabx and Tech Mahindra who share our vision of increasing financial inclusion and access. The partnership will help enhance purpose-driven financing in Africa and support our work to rewire the DNA in banking,” said Alex Manson, CEO, of SC Ventures.
“The transformative power of purpose-driven financing lies in its ability to bridge gaps in access and opportunity, particularly in regions like Africa. This strategic partnership aims to make financial solutions more inclusive and impactful. It’s indeed an exciting beginning, and we look forward to collaborating with SC Ventures on many such initiatives that redefine financial empowerment and drive innovation globally,” said Mohit Joshi, CEO and Managing Director of Tech Mahindra.
Also Read: USI and Tech Mahindra to Set First Engineering Development Center in IndiaFuraha leverages Yabx’s nimble future-ready platform with AI-driven alternate lending capabilities, with SC Ventures’ deep understanding of banking and risk management, to reduce the cost of delivering purpose-driven lending products and widen financial inclusion across underserved segments in Africa.
“This partnership with SC Ventures is a big moment for Yabx. It marks our first step into the education financing space. The long-term impact of a partnership like this is huge, and we’re excited to work with Furaha as they positively impact education outcomes in Uganda and other African countries in the coming months,” said Rajat Dayal, CEO of Yabx.
Furaha offers a much-needed solution for parents and schools by creating a rich ecosystem of data for credit scoring and enabling commercial banks to channel affordable credit toward education financing. Furaha has started offering loan products in Uganda with partners including Opportunity Bank, SchPay and MTN MoMo, and plans to expand to other African countries.
