Lendable Plans to Raise $100 Million for Africa, Asia Deals

(Bloomberg) -- Lendable Inc plans to raise $100 million by the first half of 2022 to finance small-and medium-sized businesses, including off-grid energy projects, in Africa and Asia.

The Nairobi-based fintech financier, with offices in London and Singapore has received $49 million in commitments for the MSME Fintech Credit Fund from backers including Dutch lender FMO, Calvert Impact Capital Inc, and FSD Africa. It expects another $20 million by the end of March, the company said in an emailed statement.

“We’re very confident of reaching the target size or slightly above the target size during the fund-raising period,” Chris Wéhbe, chief executive officer at Lendable said in an interview on Tuesday. “We’ve been growing at a pretty steady pace this year at $15 million a month in terms of new disbursements.”

Lendable’s fourth fund will provide credit to over 150,000 businesses African and Asian fintech companies which will in turn on-lend to businesses in off-grid energy, payments, and remittance which have had limited access to credit, the company said.

“Through our fintech investments, we are providing essential working capital for micro, small and medium businesses that enables off-grid customers to buy energy products and opens the door to innovative digital banking services to consumers,” Lendable co-founder Daniel Goldfarb said.

Lendable’s investors have earned an annualized net return of 14.32% since it was set up in 2016, according to the statement. The closing of the current fund will raise Lendable’s committed capital to more than $200 million.

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