Canadian fintech startup launches to build a credit assessment infrastructure for Africa
The company currently delivers services to customers in Canada and Nigeria.
In Africa, access to financial services remains a challenge despite efforts by financial institutions to bridge the gap for consumer credit facilities. Even when consumers are provided with access to loans they can be charged as much as triple the base interest rate.
Because domestic credit is a key requirement for consistent economic growth in developing countries, a Canadian-based data analytics and credit assessment services company focused on underserved markets, wants to tackle the credit assessment challenge in Africa.
Periculum, a Techstars-backed company which raised $620,000 in a pre-seed funding round back in October 2021 officially launched today in Nigeria on a mission to build the financial infrastructure that would help in addressing the issue of access to financial services.
"The absence of tech-enabled credit assessment infrastructure has limited the quality and quantity of lending and may be behind the risk premiums borrowers have to pay, and the harassment practiced by predatory lenders in countries like Nigeria," says Michael Temitope Collins, the company's Founder and CEO.
Focused on improving financial inclusion in emerging markets through automated credit assessment tools such as eContracting etc., that close the consumer credit gap and help financial institutions provide credit facilities to the financially excluded, the company currently delivers services to customers in Canada and Nigeria and plans to expand to Ghana, Kenya, and Egypt before the end of 2022.
Founded in 2019, Periculum helps its banking and lending customers identify fraud risk, assess creditworthiness, and analyze existing data. The company also offers real-time decision-making, analysis, and credit underwriting solutions to financial institutions including banks, non-banking financial companies, and fintech companies.
