Lulalend, a South Africa-based digital lender catering to underserved small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs), has completed a $35 million Series B transformation funding round. (R600 million). Lulalend will use the capital to expand its business and fill South Africa’s persistent SME credit gap, estimated at more than $20 billion a year, according to the International Finance Corporation.

“We remain grateful to our new and existing investors, who are committed to our mission of driving financial inclusion and catalyzing growth in South Africa’s critical SME sector, which accounts for almost 40 percent of our GDP and 60 percent of private sector employment. With their combined support, we will scale our business and bring new products to market to better meet the financing needs of South Africa’s SMMEs,”

Trevor Gosling, co-founder and CEO of Lulalend.

Lulalend’s $35 million (R600 million) Series B funding round was led by influential global investor Lightrock, with participation from new investors, German development finance institution DEG, Triodos Investment Management and Women’s World Banking Asset Management, as well as existing investors. International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Quona Capital.

The company’s digital approach, combined with its proprietary credit scoring algorithm, has enabled it to provide faster, easier and more transparent service to SMEs in access to business finance. By leveraging data from a diverse set of alternative sources, allowing for faster and more accurate business assessments, Lulalend is able to review applications and distribute funds in hours instead of days. weekly or monthly for traditional lenders. Lulalend recently disbursed billions of rand to SMEs across South Africa.

Founded in 2014 as the first online finance provider for SMEs in South Africa, Lulalend’s customer service was recently expanded to include a banking proposition called Lula, built in partnership with Access Bank. Offering a bank account designed specifically for SMEs, an AI-powered cash flow management tool, and real-time access to capital through Lulalend financial solutions existing, Lula promises to simplify money management for the more than 2 million formal and informal SMEs that exist in South Africa.

The raised capital will allow Lulalend to scale up its loan portfolio, bring new solutions to market, and invest in technology and talent to accelerate the implementation of its technical-commercial bank proposal. Lulalend’s new number. In addition, in partnership with new investor Women’s World Banking Asset Management, the company will work to expand its products to women-owned SMEs in the region.