Ndovu, a micro investment tech startup, has officially launched in Kenya. The startup was founded by Radhika Bhachu, Ro Nyangeri, and Gianpaolo De Biase. Available on both the Google Play and Apple App stores, Ndovu was founded on the realization that current investment options in Kenya lock out the vast majority due to complexities in market access and high management fees.
By using Ndovu, which is regulated by the Capital Markets Authority (CMA), users can invest as little as Ksh. 5,000 (USD 50) in local and global investments. “If you were to save Ksh. 11,370 (USD 100) per month for 10 years in a bank account paying 2% per annum, you would earn Ksh. 1.5 million (USD 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 Ksh. 2.7 million (USD 23,500),” said Ro.
It is its innovation that has seen Ndovu secure investor confidence through undisclosed pre-seed funding from 4DX Ventures, Plug and Play Tech Center, Future Africa, and Oui Capital. Ndovu has current active users and plans to onboard over 1,000,000 users by expanding into other countries within the next three years.
The startup takes off in a Kenyan market where the aggregate value of wealth under management by different collective investment schemes stood at Ksh. 117 billion (USD 81.02 billion) in June 2021. This was a significant growth from the previous figure of Ksh. 56 billion (USD 493 million) in September 2017. This is according to data from the Capital Markets Authority (CMA).
Additionally, the startup has won several awards, including a development grant from Zilliqa, a blockchain project. 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.
“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,” Radhika said.