SC Ventures & Yabx set up Furaha to drive education financing in Africa

By Gloria Methri

SC Ventures, Standard Chartered’s FinTech investment and ventures arm, and Yabx Technologies (Netherlands), a company of Tech Mahindra Group, have collaborated to formalise their joint investment in Furaha. SC Ventures has invested $ 7 million, while Yabx BV has contributed through technology transfer, resulting in a combined investment of $10 million in Furaha.

Incubated by SC Ventures, Furaha is a lending platform aiming to make finance accessible across sub-Saharan Africa, with its first offering being in the education financing space. Furaha is headquartered in UAE’s Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) and is extending its offerings to local operating markets in Africa, starting with Uganda as its first market.

“We are glad to partner with like-minded innovators like Yabx and Tech Mahindra, who share our vision of increasing financial inclusion and access. The partnership will help enhance purpose-driven financing in Africa and support our work to rewire the DNA in banking,” said Alex Manson, CEO of SC Ventures.

“The transformative power of purpose-driven financing lies in its ability to bridge gaps in access and opportunity, particularly in regions like Africa. This strategic partnership aims to make financial solutions more inclusive and impactful. It’s indeed an exciting beginning, and we look forward to collaborating with SC Ventures on many such initiatives that redefine financial empowerment and drive innovation globally,” said Mohit Joshi, CEO and Managing Director of Tech Mahindra.

Africa has the youngest demographics globally, with over 600 million children under the age of 18. An education financing platform like Furaha could positively impact families across the continent. Furaha leverages Yabx’s nimble future-ready platform with AI-alternate lending capabilities, with SC Ventures’ deep understanding of banking and risk management, to reduce the cost of delivering purpose-driven lending products and widen financial inclusion across underserved segments in Africa.

“This partnership with SC Ventures is a big moment for Yabx. It marks our first step into the education financing space. The long-term impact of a partnership like this is huge, and we’re excited to work with Furaha as they positively impact education outcomes in Uganda and other African countries in the coming months,” said Rajat Dayal, CEO of Yabx.

Furaha offers a much-needed solution for parents and schools by creating a rich ecosystem of data for credit scoring and enabling commercial banks to channel affordable credit towards education financing. Furaha has started offering loan products in Uganda with partners including Opportunity Bank, SchPay and MTN MoMo, and plans are underway to expand to other countries in Africa.