• The Africa and Asia-focused fintech company provides loans of up to $5000 to small businesses.
• Jia Fintech has raised $4.3 million in seed funding with an additional $1 million commitment for on-chain liquidity.
• Africa’s small business sector accounts for 90% of African-owned enterprises.

Blockchain-based startups have flooded Africa’s ecosystem. Numerous developers and entrepreneurs have partnered to create innovative ways of improving various industries within the continents. Blocckhain’s applicability has awed the entire ecosystem, from agriculture to real estate. One by-product of this fundamental web3 component is Africa’s fintech industry. Hailed as one of the fastest-growing industries in the world, African fintech startups have gained quite a reputation. Jia Fintech, an Africa and Asia-focused fintech company, has raised $4.3 million in seed funding. This will promote  Africa’s financial inclusion rate.

Their efforts and systems have rapidly gained popularity despite being a new startup.

The story behind Jia Fintech

Before the concept of blockchain-based startups, Africa’s financial inclusion rate was below 40%, meaning that one out of five Africans had access to financial services. This low rating heavily hindered the continent’s viral economic growth by limiting businesses’ and users’ capabilities when dealing with finances. Thus when the concept of Bitcoin and digital currency came to be, it heavily impacted how Africa views financial systems.

Despite Africa’s fintech Industry’s rapid development, it still significantly lags behind the rest of the world. Zach Marks, Cheng Cheng, Ivan Orone and Yuting Wang, all ex-Tala executives, noticed its slow growth rate. Their concern over Africa’s financial inclusion rate hinted at a market gap they could fill.

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Thus began the development of Jia Fintech, a blockchain-based startup to boost the continent’s new financial system further. The blockchain-based startup hinges on Decentralized finance to offer loans to users and businesses. Upon repayments, their blockchain system automatically awards tokens that they can alter and redeem based on the profits of Jia Fintech.

Furthermore, customers who repay their loans receive tokens to show appreciation for their commitment. The Africa and Asia-focused fintech company currently offers the tokens as Jia Points while its developers work on its Blockchain system. Once complete, the organization will expand its operation to accommodate new clients.

Jia Fintech gains $4.3 million in funding.

According to their system, the Africa and Asia-focused fintech company provides loans of up to $5000 to small businesses. They have stated that this initiative will fill the void left by digital lenders unable to cope with the current inflation rate of the content. The borrower dictates Jia Fintech’s loan repayment period and can extend it to six months.

Since it is a blockchain-based startup, it only attracts about 2% to 6% monthly interest rate. This rate heavily depends on the user’s profile. Their concept and, in addition, the use of a reward token to attract more clients caught the eye of various potential investors.

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Fortunately, Africa and Asia-focused fintech company has raised $4.3 million in seed funding with an additional $1 million commitment for on-chain liquidity. They attained such funding through a round led by early-stage backer TCG Crypto. This collaboration caught the attention of other participants, including; BlockTower, Hashed Emergent, Saison Capital and Global Coin Research.

In addition, Angel investors Packy McCormick (the Not Boring founder), Anand Iyer of Canonical Crypto and Jared Hecht and Rory Eakin also participated in the round. According to the blockchain-based startups, the funding will double its operation in Kenya and the Philippines. They also added that they would shift their focus to new markets in West Africa. Latin America and Asia. 

Marks stated that the loan ranges are competitively priced, providing just enough capital for small businesses to kick off. 

Jia Fintech partnered with Ilara Health to gain more customers through its network of over 2000 small clinics. Jia Fintech stated, “Ilara focuses on helping clinics grow by selling medicine and low-cost diagnostic devices. They don’t want to deal with credit risk on their balance sheet, so we finance an inventory financing program for them. We get access to proprietary data on these clinics, which helps us underwrite in a way that banks and other lenders can’t.”

Jia fintech is among the few within Africa’s fintech Industry that seek to contribute to the continent’s fintech industry. This blockchain-based startup can address one of Africa’s depleted economic sectors by focusing on Africa’s small businesses.

According to a report, Africa’s small business sector accounts for 90% of African-owned enterprises. However, they still face a $330 billion financing deficit. Unfortunately, due to high competition, a lack of financial leverage and underutilization of technology, this sector heavily contributes to Africa’s overall poverty line.

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Conclusion

Mark claimed, “What is exciting in what we’re doing is opening up the world’s capital to MSMEs so they can receive affordable financing.” The Africa and Asia fintech company has started yet another revolution in Africa’s ecosystem.

By catering to Africa’s small business sector, it will improve its economic growth and empower its citizen directly through financial inclusion. Africa’s fintech industry is built on the same founding goal as the Web3 ecosystem: enabling users now.