Finja, the Pakistan-based digital lending FinTech, has raised $9 million in a Series A round for $10 million, according to a company press release.
The company counted contributions from ICU Ventures and the existing investors BeeNext, Vostok Emerging Finance, Quona Capital, and Gray MacKenzie Engineering Services, which is a Descon company.
The release says the company's total financing now sits at $15 million, with the company having the flexibility under its belt to raise another $1 million.
Finja was founded by Qasif Shahid, Monis Rahman, and Umer Munawar, all tech veterans, as a mobile wallet service. Since then, it's evolved into a digital lending platform to help micro- and small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), mostly grocery stores, along with salaried professionals. Those using the platform can use it to request inventory financing, pay their vendors, order inventory or track invoices, the release says.
In addition, Finja partners with various businesses and corporates in order to manage business payments, payroll, vendor relations and letting their employees ask for salary advances through the mobile app. The program also offers credit to salaried professionals not part of its network through another program called Finja Credit Line.
Rahman, who also leads Pakistan's largest online employment portal Rozee.pk, said the new funding round made the company “excited to scale our efforts to help small businesses and consumers reach their goals with dignity,” according to the release.
And Shahid said the new funding would be a boost for the company.
“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,” he said, according to the release.
Both traditional and alternative lenders have boosted digitization efforts recently, PYMNTS writes, with experts saying it was a requirement to have digital services. Ario CEO Stéphane Marceau told PYMNTS that the endgame should be making things as simple as possible for the customer, with digital friction removed and more visibility offered.
