A few days back, we reported about Finja getting a much-needed approval from SECP to start pilot operations for their peer-to-peer platform. That was pretty much the news the Finja management was waiting for it seems as they have raised $9 million in a Series A1 round.
The investment is led by a number of ventures including ICU Ventures, BeeNext, Vostok Emerging Finance, Quona Capital and Gray MacKenzie Engineering Services (a Descon company). With this first-of-its-kind support from both regulators, Finja has forged digital partnerships with banks, FMCGs, distributors, kiryana stores and small businesses.
Commenting on the investment raised, Qasif Shahid CEO of Finja had this to say:
With this new capital injection along with our strong partnerships with SECP, SBP, banks, FMCGs, distributors and so many other parts of the supply-chain and payment ecosystem, we are fully equipped and supported by the industry to rapidly scale to create unprecedented impact
Finja last announced funding of $3 million in November which was led by BeeNext and Quona Capital. As per the details by the company, they have clocked over Rs. 100 Billion in transactional volume and have experienced a growth of 110% due to the pandemic. Finja has disbursed over 50,000 unsecured digitally scored Islamic and conventional loans to businesses and salaried individuals. Small business and consumer lending represents a Rs. 10 Trillion (USD $60 Billion) market in Pakistan of which less than 4% is currently penetrated.
Finja Chairman Monis Rahman also commented, “We are excited to scale our efforts to help small businesses and consumers reach their goals with dignity. We are grateful for the support of some of the world’s best fintech funds which have invested in Pakistan for the first time through Finja.”
