Laboremus Uganda secures funding from DOB Equity and FCA Investments

By Edlyn Cardoza

Laboremus Uganda, the B2B FinTech that enables onboarding at scale, has received a funding boost from DOB Equity and FCA Investments to grow the company’s FinTech platform in Uganda and neighbouring markets. Laboremus’ platform helps banks and FinTechs verify their customers’ identities and onboard them as customers. This alleviates one of the key bottlenecks in providing access to credit for consumers in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Laboremus’ SaaS solution combines Know Your Customer data, Anti Money Laundering checks and customer interaction for onboarding. This allows the industry to serve the unbanked population more cost-effectively, even in the most rural parts of the region. Current clients include Standard Chartered, a.o. Equity Bank, dfcu Bank and the pan-African FinTech Wave.

The investment from DOB and FCAI will enable Laboremus to expand its product offerings by adding new channels and verification services, including:

• ID verification using the government ID registry, including biometric capabilities
• Customer KYC verification/AML screening against various government registries, including business names, phone numbers, land titles etc.
• Extensive KYC data capture for account opening through WhatsApp, mobile app and USSD (all popular channels in the region)

Timothy Musoke, CEO and Co-Founder of Laboremus, says: “Access to credit is what stands between the haves and the have-nots in a modern economy.”

Marius Koestler, Co-Founder and Chairman of the board, explains: “African banks are the least efficient globally and struggle to offer cost-effective services to most of the continent’s population. Meanwhile, new entrants such as fintechs struggle to scale due to a lack of access to Know Your Customer data and the right technology to onboard potential customers at scale. Laboremus solves both issues. By helping banks and B2C-fintechs onboard their customers at a superior client acquisition cost, Laboremus will achieve its mission of helping financial institutions to provide banking to anyone, anywhere.”

Musoke adds: “I am super proud of our team today. Our guiding principle since the beginning has been that Africans can make exceptional technology for Africa – in any sector. Our competition has always come from abroad and we have proven that it is not only possible but preferable to get your IT services locally. DOB and FCAI will allow us to scale up and offer our services to more banks and financial institutions, both in Uganda and the region.”

Saskia van der Mast, Co-CEO of the East African impact venture capital firm, DOB Equity, added: “We are excited to partner with Laboremus as it removes structural inefficiencies in providing access to finance in Africa. Laboremus’ platform has the potential to democratize access to digital financial services across the continent.”

“In line with our investment in Kwara last year, we are also glad to make this early-stage investment in Uganda. DOB Equity is often among the first institutional investors, as we were with our investment in M-Kopa, Twiga Foods, Sendy and other rapidly growing companies in the region.”

Emmanuel Obwori, COO of FCA Investments, said: “Access to banking services at scale is key to enabling inclusive economic growth. We are excited to partner with DOB equity and Laboremus in the quest to accelerate financial inclusion in Uganda and across the African continent”. This Investment continues our effort to invest and provide tailored technical assistance to innovative enterprises with disproportionately high impact across the region and compliments our investment in Ensibuuko.