SC Ventures, Standard Chartered’s innovation, fintech investment and ventures arm, and Yabx Technologies (Netherlands) B.V., a company of India’s Tech Mahindra group, announced joint investment plans in Furaha, a Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC)-headquartered lending platform.
The two companies announced signing a set of shareholder and technology collaboration agreements, envisaging SC Ventures investing $ 7 million, while Yabx BV making its contributions through technology transfer, resulting in a combined investment of $10 million in Furaha.
Incubated by SC Ventures, and co-founded by Yustus Aribariho and Ian Fernandes, Furaha is a purpose-driven lending platform aiming to make finance accessible across sub-Saharan Africa.
The platform is to commence its operations with education finance, and will start with Uganda as its first market.
“The partnership will help enhance purpose-driven financing in Africa and supports our work to rewire the DNA in banking,” said Alex Manson, CEO, SC Ventures.
Mohit Joshi, CEO and Managing Director, Tech Mahindra, said 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,” he said.
Education financing platforms like Furaha are expected to make a positive impact on families in Africa, which has the youngest demographics globally with over 600 million children under the age of 18.
Furaha 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.
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