Bfree, a Nigerian startup that utilizes technology to ethically recover debt from lenders, recently secured $3M backing. Co-founded by Julian Flosbach, Chukwudi Enyi, and Moses Nmor, Bfree was established in 2020 with the purpose of introducing humane debt recovery processes and curbing the aggressive methods often used by predatory digital lenders.

Bfree’s services include a self-service platform and AI-based tools such as chatbots and callbots to facilitate scalable debt recovery. Aside from maintaining a small team to man a call center, the startup claims that 92% of its interactions with customers are fully automated. This tech-based approach to debt collection strikes a contrast with traditional African collectors who typically rely heavily on call centers.

Capria Ventures led the recent $2.95 million funding round, with participation from existing investors Greenhouse Capital, Launch Africa, Modus Africa, Axian CVC, and individual angel investors. This new funding brings Bfree’s total capital raised to $6.5 million.

Bfree primarily focuses on banks, which contribute to 70% of its revenue, rather than digital lenders. To date, Bfree services 14 clients, but it has worked with a total of 45 since its inception. A significant part of Bfree’s operations involves the use of financial and behavioral data to provide action-based after-sale services.

Beyond its current offerings, Bfree has plans to create a secondary debt market. This market would enable third-party investors to purchase non-performing loans from banks, letting banks manage their loan portfolios and mitigate risk. The startup’s loan portfolio currently stands at more than $400 million, from which it has managed to recover 12.5%.

With the fresh backing, Bfree intends to continue its ethical debt recovery in Nigeria and expand into other major markets in Africa, including Ghana and Kenya.

Source: Bfree, a Nigerian startup enabling lenders recover debt ethically, gets $3M backing }}.