Pakistani FinTech Finja secures $9mn in Series A financing

By Megha Bhattacharya

Pakistan-based FinTech Finja has secured $9 million in a Series A funding round that saw the participation of ICU Ventures and the existing investors BeeNext, Vostok Emerging Finance, Quona Capital, and Gray MacKenzie Engineering Services (a Descon company). The development takes the total financing raised so far by the company to about $15 million. The company plans to use the funding to boost its product and marketing efforts as well as develop new lending portfolios.

“Small business and consumer lending represent a $60 Billion market in Pakistan of which less than 4% is currently penetrated. As a result of this sector being neglected, small businesses have largely struggled to grow due to unavailability of capital,” Finja said in a statement. It operates with dual licenses from the country’s central bank (SBP) and financial regulatory agency (SECP).

Established in 2016, Finja is a digital lending platform with a focus on micro SMEs (mainly grocery stores) and salaried professionals. It offers different types of lending and payments services including inventory financing, vendor payments, etc. It also offers credit to salaried professionals who are not part of its network, through a different product called Finja Credit Line.

Qasif Shahid, the co-founder and CEO of Finja said, “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.”

Monis Rahman, the co-founder and Chairman of Finja who is one of Pakistan’s leading tech entrepreneurs and leads country’s largest online employment portal Rozee.pk, said, “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.”