Kenyan Wealth-Tech Start-Up Ndovu Launches In Nairobi

Kenyan Wealth-Tech Start-Up Ndovu Launches In Nairobi.

• Ndovu is an online investment platform that provides easy access to financial markets.
• It also provides smart, simple, and affordable investment solutions by investing your money in a globally diversified portfolio.

Ndovu is a Wealth-Tech Startup that was founded in 2020 with a vision to provide every African, regardless of income level or financial knowledge, with the right tools to grow their wealth.

Ndovu takes off in a Kenyan market where the aggregate value of wealth under management by different collective investment schemes stood at KSh117 billion ($81.02b) in June 2021, having grown from KSh56 billion ($493m) in September 2017, as per data from the Capital Markets Authority (CMA).

Ro Nyangeri, Ndovu’s CCO, Ms.Bhachu, Ndovu’s CEO and Gianpoulo De Biase, Ndovu’s CTO.

Since its inception Ndovu has raised an undisclosed pre-seed funding from 4DX Ventures, Plug and Play Tech Center, Future Africa, and Oui Capital through its innovation that has seen it secure investor confidence. Ndovu has current active users and plans to onboard over 1,000,000 users by expanding into other countries within the next three years.

Walter Baddo, Co-founder and General Partner, 4DX Ventures, said:

The opportunity to create frictionless and low cost investment products for all Africans remains an important mission that we believe in. The Ndovu team is building an innovative product that addresses the core investment needs of an increasingly mobile first African population. We are excited to partner with them in this next chapter.

The CEO of Ndovu Ms. Bhachu explained the drive of the idea towards the creation of Ndovu.

Our idea was born out of our passion to improve financial lives across Africa. Our vision is to provide every African, regardless of income level or financial knowledge, with the right tools to grow their wealth. We believe educating our people on how to make their money work for them will bring us one step closer to reducing poverty on the continent.

Ro Nyangeri, CCO and Ms.Bhachu, CEO expounding on Ndovu during its launch at Sankara, Nairobi.

Ndovu, being regulated by the Capital Markets Authority (CEO), enables users to invest as little as Ksh5,000 both in the local and global markets.

If you were to save $100 per month for 10 years in a bank account paying 2% per annum, you would earn $13,200. On the other hand, if you invest $100 per month for 10 years using Ndovu, into the S&P 500 fund, you could earn approximately $23,500, said Ro, Ndovu’s CCO.

Ndovu joins a wealth-tech industry in Africa that is still in its infancy. Traditional players in the region have yet to embrace the advancements that will allow them to serve a diversified client base.

At Ndovu, we are playing a key role in financial inclusion by opening up the previously-gated financial markets to all. We are also demystifying investments by breaking down financial jargon with an easy-to-use platform, said De Biase.

The wealth startup, which is available on both the Google Play and Apple App Stores, allows users to access global financial markets quickly and easily. It was created on the idea that Kenya’s present investment options exclude the great majority of Kenyans due to market access issues and excessive management costs.

The startup has won several awards, including a development grant from Zilliqa, the blockchain project that pioneered sharding, a technology that splits platform infrastructure into several interconnected networks to support more transactions.

Ndovu also won first-place in the She Loves Tech competition (2021), and led the pack at Princeton in Africa’s New Venture Competition (2020). This is in addition to being selected for the highly-competitive Google for Startups Accelerator in 2021, the same year it received recognition from the Co-Creation Hub for the work that it is doing to empower women.