Kenyan fintech startup Kwara has agreed to wholly acquire IRNET Coop Kenya, a software company which is a subsidiary of the Kenya Union of Savings and Credit Cooperatives (KUSCC), in a deal that will see it offer its banking software solutions and mobile banking channels to rapidly increase growth and profitability of SACCOs in Kenya. Founded in 2018 by Cynthia Wandia and David Hwan, Kwara has built a digital banking platform designed to help unbanked and underbanked individuals to build wealth together in a frictionless way. It offers a management platform to drive efficiency and automation at the cooperative staff level, and also has a neobank-style mobile banking app for end-clients, alongside alternative channels. The multi-accelerated startup raised a US$4 million seed funding round in December 2021, and has now entered into a partnership with KUSCCO, the umbrella body for SACCOs in Kenya, serving over 4,000 SACCOs. The partnership aims to catapult the growth of SACCOs through deposit mobilisation and digital member acquisition, while addressing the key challenges currently facing SACCOs, which include costly digitisation, security concerns and the digital divide between SACCOs and their increasingly young tech-savvy membership.
SOURCE: DISRUPT AFRICA