Nigerian fintech CreditChek has acquired Ugandan banking software company Algosys for an undisclosed amount, giving the company its first operating base in East Africa. The deal follows a $600,000 funding round in June that CreditChek raised to expand into Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda.
CreditChek was founded in 2021 by Kingsley Ibe and Lionel Orishane. Its software connects lenders with credit bureau, income, identity and other financial data through a single system. The company says it has processed more than $60 million in credit applications across 1 million individual profiles and has reached profitability in Nigeria.
Algosys was founded in 2024 by Innocent Bigega and Simon Tayebwa. Its core banking and lending software is used by 22 financial institutions in Uganda, including lenders, microfinance companies and savings and credit cooperatives. The platform has supported more than 10,000 SACCO loans.
Algosys will continue operating as a CreditChek subsidiary in Uganda. CreditChek plans to connect its credit and financial data tools with Algosys' loan origination, savings, deposits and loan-management systems. The acquisition gives CreditChek existing customers in Uganda instead of requiring it to build a local network from the start.
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The deal also changes the scope of CreditChek's business. Rather than provide data used only when a lender assesses a borrower, the company wants to provide infrastructure covering customer acquisition, risk checks, loan decisions, disbursement and loan management. Its June funding round was led by Janngo Capital, with Assembly Investors, Vastly Valuable Ventures and Unipeg Capital also participating.
Key Takeaways
The Algosys acquisition gives CreditChek a faster route into East Africa and moves it further into the software that lenders use each day. East Africa has seen growth in mobile money and digital lending, but financial institutions still deal with credit information spread across bureaus, banks and other systems. CreditChek started by connecting those data sources, while Algosys manages what happens after a lender decides to issue a loan.
Combining the 2 means a financial institution could use one set of infrastructure to verify a customer, assess risk, approve credit, disburse funds and manage repayment. That can make CreditChek harder to replace and increase the amount of revenue it earns from each lender. The deal also reduces one problem that often slows expansion into another African country: distribution. Algosys already serves 22 Ugandan institutions, giving CreditChek relationships it can use to introduce its existing products.
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The next test is whether the company can repeat that approach in Kenya and Rwanda, where it also plans to expand. If the integration works, CreditChek could move from being a Nigerian credit-data provider toward a regional lending infrastructure company serving banks, fintechs, microfinance institutions and SACCOs across several markets.
