Kuda, a neobank operating in Nigeria with the licence of a microfinance bank, has recorded a loss of N6 billion.
The aforementioned loss, which was recorded at the end of 2021, represents a 602% rise from the ₦868 million loss it realised in the preceding year (2020).
BizWatch Nigeria understands that Kuda recorded the loss despite reaching and surpassing a two million user milestone in the period under review.
Just a few days ago before this development was disclosed, Kuda reportedly joined the league of tech companies in Africa that were pruning their staff.
The news of the layoffs was confirmed by Kuda via email, however, maintaining that it laid off less than 5% of its 450-strong workforce or about 23 people.
Kuda plans to expand
Last August, Kuda, the financial institution that provides zero to minimal fees on cards, account maintenance, and transfers, raised $55 million.
It was gathered that the bank raised the money to double down on new services for Nigeria, and also to prepare its launch into more countries on the continent like Ghana and Uganda — in a Series B round that saw it valued at $500 million.
“We’ve been doing a lot of resource deployment in Nigeria. But now we are doubling down on the expansion and the idea is to build a strong team for the expansion plans for Kuda.
“We still see Nigeria as an important market and don’t want to be distracted so don’t want to disrupt those operations too much. It’s a strong market and competitive. It’s one that we feel we need to have a stronghold on. So this funding is to invest in expansion and have more experience in the company with relation to expansion,” the co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Kuda, Babs Ogundeyi said in his reaction to the fund raising.
However, having raised over $90 million in total from investors such as Valar Ventures and Target Global, Kuda also disclosed its plan to also expand out of Africa to Pakistan.
