Nigerian credit infrastructure startup CreditChek has secured $600,000 in fresh funding to accelerate its expansion across East Africa, betting that better access to credit intelligence can unlock lending growth for millions of underserved consumers and businesses across the region.
The investment round was led by Janngo Capital, with participation from existing investor Assembly Investors and new backers Vastly Valuable Ventures and Unipeg Capital, strengthening investor confidence in one of Africa’s emerging players in financial data infrastructure.
The funding comes as Africa’s digital lending market continues to expand rapidly, driven by mobile money adoption, fintech innovation and growing demand for financing among consumers and small businesses. Yet access to reliable credit data remains one of the continent’s biggest structural barriers to financial inclusion, limiting lenders’ ability to accurately assess risk and scale loan portfolios sustainably.
For CreditChek, the challenge represents a major market opportunity.
The company has built a credit intelligence platform that aggregates data from financial institutions, credit bureaus and alternative data providers, converting fragmented information into a unified API that enables lenders to make real-time credit decisions.
The model is designed to help banks, fintechs, microfinance institutions and digital lenders improve underwriting accuracy, reduce default rates and expand access to responsible credit.
Solving Africa’s Credit Data Problem
Despite East Africa’s emergence as one of the continent’s fastest-growing fintech hubs, many lenders still struggle with incomplete borrower records, fragmented data systems and limited interoperability between financial institutions.
Industry experts say these challenges increase lending costs, reduce approval rates and restrict financing for small businesses that drive economic growth.
According to the African Development Bank, Africa faces an estimated $331 billion MSME financing gap, with millions of small businesses unable to access the capital required to expand operations, create jobs and contribute more effectively to economic development.
CreditChek believes data infrastructure is a critical part of the solution.
“Access to high-quality credit data remains a major bottleneck for financial services growth across many African markets. We’re building the data infrastructure that allows lenders to access richer, more reliable insights,” said Kingsley Ibe, Co-founder and CEO of CreditChek.
“This funding allows us to scale our infrastructure and partnerships in East Africa, bringing us closer to a future where credit decisions are faster, more inclusive, and more reliable.”
The company plans to use the new capital to deepen integrations with banks, microfinance institutions and fintech lenders across key East African markets, expanding access to credit intelligence while streamlining lending processes.
Investors Back Africa’s Next Financial Infrastructure Layer
For investors, CreditChek represents more than a fintech startup. It is part of a growing class of African infrastructure companies building the foundational rails needed to support the continent’s digital economy.
Fatoumata Bâ, Founder and Executive Chair of Janngo Capital, said CreditChek has already demonstrated strong commercial execution and product-market fit.
“We are proud to lead this funding round in CreditChek, a company building the credit data infrastructure Africa needs to scale responsible lending.”
“With over $60 million in credit applications processed across 1 million unique profiles and profitability already achieved in Nigeria, CreditChek has demonstrated both strong execution and product-market fit.”
“By enabling lenders to make better decisions using alternative data, the company is helping expand access to financing for millions of underserved individuals and businesses while addressing Africa’s estimated $331 billion MSME financing gap.”
From Nigeria Success to Regional Expansion
The East Africa expansion builds on CreditChek’s growing traction in Nigeria, where the company has already processed more than $60 million in credit applications across over one million unique borrower profiles and achieved profitability.
The startup recently completed the MTN Cloud Accelerator Programme, further strengthening its product capabilities and growth strategy.
CreditChek has also attracted attention through strategic partnerships, including a collaboration with Bboxx under the $750 million World Bank-funded Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-up (DARES) programme, which aims to expand solar financing to approximately 17 million homes across rural Nigeria.
The partnership demonstrated how alternative credit data can support financing models beyond traditional banking, particularly in sectors such as clean energy, agriculture and rural development.
Building Africa’s Credit Future
As digital lending volumes increase across Africa, investors are increasingly focusing on infrastructure providers that can improve transparency, reduce risk and support responsible financial inclusion.
With lending ecosystems still fragmented across many African markets, CreditChek’s expansion signals a broader shift toward data-driven financial services capable of supporting cross-border credit assessment and more efficient capital allocation.
For CreditChek, the latest funding round is not simply about geographic growth. It is part of a larger ambition to become a pan-African credit infrastructure platform connecting financial institutions, lenders and borrowers across the continent.
If successful, the company could help reshape how credit is accessed, assessed and distributed in some of Africa’s fastest-growing economies.
