US$193,780,000+
*Data updated daily at 18:00 EAT
Baobab Network, an accelerator investing early in African startups, has launched its 2025 investment cycle by investing an undisclosed amount in CreditChek, a Nigeria-based fintech addressing cross-border credit challenges for Africa’s emigrants.
Founded in 2021 by Kingsley Ibe and Lionel Orishane, CreditChek enables financial institutions to assess the creditworthiness of African emigrants in under five minutes using data from African credit bureaus, open banking tools, and government databases.
With 40 million African emigrants annually—70% of whom lack access to financial services—CreditChek, which previously secured a USD 240 K pre-seed in 2022, aims to transform credit accessibility for this underserved population. The startup’s innovative technology reduces integration times for financial institutions from nine months to just 72 hours.
Baobab Network’s investment underscores confidence in CreditChek’s potential to scale, particularly as Africa’s emigrant population is projected to grow to 147 million by 2050. This marks the start of Baobab Network’s latest funding round, following a strong track record of investing in diverse early-stage African startups.