Finja, a Lahore-based Fintech startup, has raised $10 million in Series A2 funding from HBL and Sturgeon Capital. The investment round includes equity, debt, and off-balance sheet capital.
Tell me more: Finja provides payments, collections, and credit services to professionals, small businesses, and SMEs.
Last year, the State Bank of Pakistan granted Finja commercial approval for the EMI (Electronic Money Institution) license.
Finja is the only non-banking entity in Pakistan with an NBFC (Non Banking Finance Corporation) license from SECP and an EMI from SBP. This allows it to accept customer deposits, authenticate new users and give them digital credit.
It claims to have disbursed 150,000 loans to 35,000 Karyana stores in 30+ cities.
You should know: Finja was co-founded by Qasif Shahid, Monis Rahman, and Umer Munawar in 2016.
In total, Finja has raised $25.6 million. It has announced two Series A funding rounds; Series A1 and A2. It is being categorized as a Series A for simplicity’s sake.
Also, it’s unclear how much of the $25.6 million is in equity and debt.
Zoom Out: The new round of funding will allow Finja to finance more than $50 million to accelerate Pakistan’s SMEs’ potential.
It will also be used to develop new online and mobile banking products, expand its merchant network, and grow the team.
Sourced from: Business Recorder
