The funding round was led by global impact investment manager BlueOrchard and Dutch entrepreneurial development bank FMO, with $20 million injected as equity. 

This capital infusion will help in achieving Fido’s mission to empower individuals and entrepreneurs across Africa by providing swift and accessible financial services through its innovative digital platform.

Founded in 2015 by Nadav Topolski, Tomer Edry, and Nir Zepkowitz, Fido initially focused on offering loans via mobile phones. Over time, the fintech has diversified its product offerings, incorporating savings, bill payments, and smartphone financing. 

These additions have bolstered Fido’s revenue streams and strengthened its ability to compete in the African digital lending space, where it stands alongside other major players like Branch and Tala. 

Unlike traditional banks that require collateral and lengthy paperwork, Fido leverages mobile technology and alternative data sources to provide instant micro-loans to individuals and small businesses, particularly those overlooked by conventional financial institutions.

CEO Alon Eitan highlighted the important role that small businesses play in driving economies in sub-Saharan Africa, yet they often lack access to essential financial tools. 

Fido’s platform addresses this gap by offering loans ranging from $20 to $500 to individuals, with higher amounts available to businesses based on their needs and credit scores. 

These loans, which come with embedded insurance, are repayable within six months at interest rates between 7% and 12%. Fido’s default rate remains below 4%, thanks to its strong credit scoring system.

Fido is making an impact which goes beyond providing credit, it also encourages smart financial habits through its Fido Score, helping users build a digital financial identity. The fintech has served over a million customers across Ghana and Uganda, distributing more than $500 million in loans. 

Fido aims to surpass $1 billion in total disbursements by early next year, further expanding its reach and deepening its impact on African entrepreneurs and individuals striving to improve their financial well-being.

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The round was led by Israel-based private equity fund Fortissimo Capital and included participation from other investors such as Yard Ventures; a VC fund by Harvard alumni. 

Fido focuses on linking entrepreneurs with financial opportunities in Africa, which is a major hindrance to the growth of several businesses. 

The company automates the whole financial services process for customers from onboarding to credit analysis and provides financial guidance as well. It leverages machine learning-risk models, making instant credit decisions even for customers with no financial track record while helping reduce operational costs.

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

Fido gives up to $250 mobile loans to individuals and small businesses, which are repayable through single or multiple installments for a period of up to six months. 

Co-founded by Nadav Topolski, Tomer Edry and Nir Zepkowitz, Fido plans to include savings and payment products in its portfolio later this year, and establish operations in Uganda, its second market, in line with its expansion plan into other regions in Africa. 

The fintech affirms to have issued over $1.5 million loans to 350,000 customers in Ghana and is set to increase this as it enters other markets in the continent.

The fintech also plans to open its second research and development center in Accra, Ghana, which will augment its Israel branch, to help it automate most of its operations to ensure sustainability in the long term.

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