Grace Ashiru
Lula, a South African fintech company founded in 2014 by Trevor Gosling and Michael Foley, has secured ZAR 340 million (~USD 21 million) in funding from the Dutch development bank FMO. This investment will help scale Lula’s lending capabilities to small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs). The local-currency facility will support Lula’s technology-driven platform, which provides fast and flexible working capital to SMEs, often overlooked by traditional banks.
This funding follows Lula’s recent success. In 2023, the company raised USD 35 million in Series B funding, led by Lightrock and with participation from IFC, Quona Capital, DEG, and Triodos Investment Management. Additionally, in late 2024, Lula secured a further USD 10 million local-currency loan from IFC.
Lula’s platform enables businesses to access short-term capital for expenses such as inventory, salaries, and operations, with local-currency lending helping to reduce exposure to exchange-rate volatility for borrowers.
