Jeff App's $2M funding boosts financial Inclusion in emerging markets

Latvian financial marketplace operator for financial inclusion Jeff App, has secured $2 million in late-Seed financing 

The marketplace allows traditionally underserved populations to access credit solutions from a growing number of financial services providers. 

In parallel, the data collection creates a comprehensive assurance structure for the financial service providers, enabling tailored matchmaking between product and consumer needs and actionable insights to improve overall portfolio quality and decrease fraud risk. 

Jeff clears obstacles that once kept financial services out of reach for many parts of the population, creating new market opportunities for banks and lenders and advancing progress towards inclusive economic development.  

Since its 2020 launch in Vietnam, Jeff has expanded into other markets, including the Philippines, Mexico and Indonesia. The platform has passed a $10M per annum revenue benchmark, giving more than 6 million people access to apply for over 60 million financial products through its marketplace. 

Toms Niparts, co-founder and CEO at Jeff, shared: 

“We’ve established a foundation for a geographic expansion playbook that allows for swift yet profitable expansion into new countries. 

Financially, we can now pursue new product categories that offer much greater market size and a faster path to becoming a household name in emerging markets.”

Presto Ventures led the funding, with participation from existing investors, including the specialist data and AI fund J12, a group of high-profile angel investors, industry veterans Jean Pascal Duvieusart and Ladislav Bartonicek, and the founder of Printify, James Berdigans. 

According to Roman Novacek, Partner at Presto Ventures:

“At Presto, we’re strong advocates of and big believers in the use of AI, machine learning, and alternative data science – especially in markets where the traditional financial data landscape poses challenges. 

Once the Jeff team launches in India, they’ll have a footprint in 5 of the 20 largest countries in terms of population worldwide. In these countries, the segments of underbanked and financially underserved consumers are significant, and many similarities can be drawn among their systemic problems.”

Jean Pascal Duvieusart, Partner at BD Partners and an experienced veteran in emerging markets financial services, said:

“Having worked in huge markets set for dynamic growth like Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines, and others, I can say with absolute confidence that these large economies are on the verge of massive digitalization of financial services, creating very sizable opportunities for players like Jeff. I am bullish about what the company will achieve."

With the new capital, Jeff will continue its commercial expansion into India and other emerging markets throughout Asia and beyond, accelerate the recruitment of top tech talent, and build out the suite of financial services and products, such as credit, on their marketplace.  

Lead image: Jeff App. Photo: uncredited.