Nigeria’s CreditChek raises $600k to scale credit data infrastructure across East Africa

CreditChek enables FinTechs, lenders, and financial institutions to assess risk, reduce defaults, and scale lending through credit and alternative data.

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CreditChek


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Nigerian credit infrastructure startup CreditChek has raised $600k in fresh funding to deepen its data coverage and expand its operations across East Africa, targeting banks, microfinance institutions, and fintech lenders grappling with fragmented and unreliable credit data.

According to TechAfricaNews, the round was led by Janngo Capital, with participation from existing investor Assembly Investors. Vastly Valuable Ventures and Unipeg Capital joined the round as new backers.

CreditChek enables FinTechs, lenders, and financial institutions to assess risk, reduce defaults, and scale lending through credit and alternative data. The company aggregates data from multiple sources, including financial institutions, credit bureaus, and alternative data providers, and standardises it into a unified API that allows lenders to assess borrower risk in real time.

“Access to high-quality credit data remains a major bottleneck for financial services growth across many African markets. We’re building the data infrastructure that allows lenders to access richer, more reliable insights,” said Kingsley Ibe, co-founder and CEO of CreditChek.

The investment arrives as East Africa’s digital financial services sector grapples with a persistent structural challenge. While the region has experienced rapid growth driven by mobile money adoption and a fast-expanding fintech ecosystem, lenders continue to face major challenges in accessing reliable and interoperable credit data, making underwriting more expensive, reducing the effectiveness of risk assessment, and limiting access to credit for many individuals and businesses.

With the capital injection, CreditChek plans to deepen its integrations across key East African markets by working closely with banks, microfinance institutions, and fintech lenders to improve access to credit intelligence and streamline lending processes.

“This funding allows us to scale our infrastructure and partnerships in East Africa, bringing us closer to a future where credit decisions are faster, more inclusive, and more reliable,” added Ibe.

Fatoumata Bâ, Founder and Executive Chair of Janngo Capital, said, “We are proud to lead this funding round in CreditChek, a company building the credit data infrastructure Africa needs to scale responsible lending. With over $60 million in credit applications processed across 1 million unique profiles and profitability already achieved in Nigeria, CreditChek has demonstrated both strong execution and product-market fit.”

CreditChek enters its East Africa push from a commercially strong base. The company previously reported more than $60 million in credit applications processed across one million unique profiles and has achieved profitability in its Nigerian operations. It also recently completed the MTN Cloud Accelerator programme, which strengthened its product development and go-to-market strategy. 

Prior to this round, CreditChek was backed by Baobab Network and also announced a partnership with Bboxx under the $750 million World Bank-funded DARES programme, aimed at expanding solar financing to 17 million homes across rural Nigeria.

The East Africa expansion reflects CreditChek’s broader ambition to become a leading credit infrastructure layer across the continent by connecting fragmented data ecosystems and enabling more seamless cross-border credit decision-making.