Nigerian fintech CreditCheck has expanded into East Africa by acquiring Ugandan core banking startup Algosys, giving it a direct foothold in the Ugandan market and access to 22 financial institutions currently using Algosys’ technology.
The acquisition forms part of Creditcheck’s broader strategy to expand beyond borrower assessment and provide a wider range of financial infrastructure covering customer acquisition, risk assessment, loan issuance and loan management.
Commenting on its expansion to Uganda, Co-founder of Creditcheck Kingsley Ibe wrote via a post on LinkedIn,
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“We are excited to announce the acquisition of Algosys, a core banking and lending management company based in Uganda. Today, lenders often rely on multiple disconnected providers for credit bureau information, income verification, identity verification, loan management, collections, and other parts of the lending lifecycle.
“Our long-term goal at Creditchek is to bring these capabilities together under one infrastructure layer that connects the different parts of the lending value chain—enabling financial institutions to make faster, more accurate, and more inclusive credit decisions. This incredible milestone brings us closer to our planned East Africa expansion and strengthens our ability to build localized credit and lending infrastructure for the markets we serve.”
Also speaking, founder of Algosys Innocent Bigega said,
“We are excited about what this next chapter means for Algosys. Joining CreditCheck gives Algosys access to broader technology platform and resources while allowing us to continue building for financial institutions we already serve. Together, we can build significantly more powerful infrastructure for lenders in Uganda and beyond”.
Algosystems is a leading solutions provider operating in the Information & Communications, Automation & Control, and Metrology markets.
With offices in Greece and Qatar, the company has implemented a vast number of both simple and complex projects with specialization in the private sector. Algosystems has extensive experience and expertise that extends to a very wide range of solutions.
As a unique system integrator, it uses its specialized convergent knowledge in Information & Communication Technologies and in Business Software, Automation & Control and Metrology to offer solutions and services to a very wide range of customers.
Algosystems is in pace with technological developments, owns the knowledge and expertise needed to support its technical proposals and effectively supports its customers with a full range of integrated services.
Algosys will continue serving its existing customers as a Creditchek subsidiary. Existing products and services will continue to operate, while customers will progressively gain access to Creditchek’s technology, infrastructure and product capabilities.
With Algosys’ technology having facilitated more than 10,000 SACCO loans, the acquisition provides Creditchek with both established local technology and an existing customer base as it strengthens its expansion across East Africa.
Founded in 2021 by Kingsley Ibe and Lionel Orishane, Creditchek is a credit assessment infrastructure, enabling financial institutions to verify nd assess the creditworthiness of African consumers.
The company has always been focused on a simple challenge, helping financial institutions make better credit decisions with better access to information.
The platform partners with African credit bureaus to enhance financial data transparency. Its core offerings include Credit Insights, which connects with African credit bureaus, and Income Insights, a tool for financial institutions to assess creditworthiness from bank statements.
Last year, Creditchek acquired CreditCliq, a U.S.-based company that helps businesses underwrite credit for newcomers while reducing default risk by accessing customers’ global credit reports.
The acquisition was a strategic move by the fintech company, aimed at breaking one of the biggest barriers for African immigrants, to accessing credit in new countries.
With the acquisition of Algosys, CreditChek wants to move beyond simply providing data to lenders and build the infrastructure that enables them to acquire customers, assess risk, make credit decisions, originate loans, and manage those loans throughout their lifecycle.
By combining Algosys’ core banking infrastructure with CreditChek’s credit and financial data capabilities, the company can build much more localized lending infrastructure for African markets.