Fintech firm to boost financial inclusion with $620,000 fund

To improve financial inclusion in Nigeria and other emerging markets through automated credit assessment tools, Canadian Fintech startup, Periculum has raised a $620,000 pre-seed funding round to improve product development and scale up operations.

The firm explained that the move would help to close the consumer credit gap and increase capacity of financial institutions to provide credit facilities to the financially excluded in the society.

The founder/Chief Executive Officer, Michael Temitope Collins said: “Periculum is a top provider of data analytics and credit assessment services targeted explicitly to underserved markets. We help our customers to reduce their lengthy loan application processing time and loan default rates and offer loans to the under-banked and unbanked consumers and micro, small and medium-scale enterprises.

We are determined to build the financial infrastructure that helps in addressing issues of access to services and improves development outcomes for millions of people, with better opportunities for businesses and lenders.”

He stated that the firm’s data analytic capabilities go beyond credit scoring, adding that it’s poised to help customers with solutions such as fraud detection, insights for lenders based on customer segmentation, customer lifecycle value, insights to retailers and Automated Teller Machine (ATM) operators.

Periculum provides services to customers in Nigeria, Canada and Kenya.

The startup was accepted into Techstars in 2021 and is one of the current 2021 Techstars Montréal AI cohort, as well as the Founder Institutes Select portfolio. It has raised $620,000 from Techstars, Loyal VC and First Fund.

Founded in 2019, Periculum helps customers to identify fraud risk, assess creditworthiness and analyse its existing data. It offers real-time decision-making and credit underwriting solutions to financial institutions including banks, non-banking financial companies and fintech firms. By providing information on the financial worthiness of customers and automating the loan decision process, its customers can gather and analyse borrower information and assign a credit score faster, with real outcomes on financial inclusion in Nigeria and other markets.

With statistics from Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc (NIBSS) showing that only 48 million Nigerians as of May 2021, had Bank Verification Number (BVN) while an estimated 57 million Nigerians are excluded from financial services, Periculum reaffirmed commitment to address the challenges.