Kuda Bank is pivoting from aggressive expansion to profitability and operational efficiency, marking a strategic shift after years of venture-backed growth.
The fintech, which serves about seven million registered customers, significantly reduced its losses to $5.83 million in 2024, down from $35.11 million the previous year. The improvement was driven largely by stronger performance in its Nigerian operations and tighter control of operating expenses.
Kuda’s Nigerian unit emerged as a key growth driver, nearly doubling its revenue in local currency to N21.2 billion within the period. This reflects increasing adoption of its services in a competitive digital banking market.
Transaction activity on the platform has also surged. In its last public update, the company reported processing over 300 million transactions valued at approximately N14.3 trillion. It also issued N16.4 billion in overdrafts, representing a 43 percent increase from the previous quarter.
Chief Executive Officer, Babs Ogundeyi, said the company’s net margin has consistently ranged between three percent and seven percent per month. At that pace, Kuda could surpass in 2025 the total transaction volume it recorded in its first five years combined.
Despite its recent progress, Kuda’s journey to sustainability follows a period of heavy losses. The company recorded nearly $45 million in losses across the two years leading up to its most recent fundraising round.
In 2024, the fintech secured $20 million in equity funding at a valuation of about $500 million. The raise signalled continued investor confidence, even as global venture capital sentiment shifted toward profitability and disciplined growth.
Kuda’s ongoing restructuring reflects broader trends across the fintech sector, where startups are increasingly under pressure to demonstrate clear paths to profitability. With competition intensifying in Nigeria’s fast-growing digital banking space, the company appears to be recalibrating its cost structure and internal operations to remain competitive.
The shift suggests that Kuda is entering a more mature phase—one defined less by rapid customer acquisition and more by sustainable financial performance.
