Uganda’s Emata raises $2.4m to scale agricultural lending

Highlights

• Ugandan agritech startup Emata has raised $2.4 million in seed funding comprising $800,000 in equity and $1.6 million in on-lending capital.
• Founded in 2020, Emata offers farmers affordable, digital financing. In place of collateral requirements, the company creates alternative credit scores based on data points like a farmer’s delivery history. 
• The startup plans to use this new investment to expand its agri-loan offering across East Africa – both within its debut market of Uganda and via international expansion, focusing on its core dairy and coffee markets.

Source: TechCabal

Our Takeaway

The need for agricultural finance in Sub-Saharan Africa is estimated at $240 billion by consultancy firm Dahlberg, with the value of Emata’s target markets in East Africa being $13 billion. As East Africa rapidly digitizes, Emata’s business model addresses the lack of agricultural financing – by providing automated loans to farmers. This reduces cost and enables lending to smallholders at rates 5x more affordable than the informal loans they have often relied on to date. Instant lending and data-based decisions also benefit all farmers, without the need for collateral.