Nigerian fintech company CreditChek has acquired Algosys, a Ugandan core banking software startup, marking its formal entry into East Africa. Algosys, founded by Innocent Bigega and Simon Tayebwa, serves 22 financial institutions including lenders, microfinance institutions and SACCOs. The move advances CreditChek's strategy to build full-stack infrastructure powering credit and lending across Africa.
Building Full-Stack Lending Infrastructure
CreditChek has built its business around credit, income and identity intelligence for lenders operating in fragmented financial ecosystems. Kingsley Ibe, CEO and co-founder of CreditChek, said, "We want to move beyond simply providing data to lenders and build the infrastructure that enables them to acquire customers, assess risk, make credit decisions, originate loans and manage those loans throughout their lifecycle." By combining Algosys' core banking technology with CreditChek's data capabilities, the company can develop more localized underwriting models.
Across African markets, lenders often rely on multiple disconnected providers for core banking, credit bureau information, identity verification, loan management and collections. Algosys brings established relationships with financial institutions that already use its platform, creating an opportunity to deliver a more complete technology stack. The combined platform is expected to give financial institutions richer data and more sophisticated tools for making credit decisions.
Why Uganda Matters
Uganda has become one of East Africa's fastest-growing startup and fintech ecosystems. In 2025, Ugandan startups attracted approximately $30 million in venture funding, more than seven times the previous year and the second-highest total in the region behind Kenya. The country also recorded 34.6 million active mobile money subscribers, compared with approximately 24 million bank accounts.
This mobile-first financial behaviour makes reliable credit intelligence increasingly important. The World Bank reports that 67.7 percent of Ugandan adults held a mobile money account in 2024, while the International Monetary Fund counted about 250 fintech companies in the country. Digital lending activity has also expanded sharply, with loan disbursements rising by 121.7 percent year-on-year as of December 2024.
Local Integration and Continued Operations
Algosys will continue to operate as a subsidiary of CreditChek and serve its existing Ugandan customers. The companies plan to keep current products and services running while exploring integrations that introduce CreditChek's lending and credit infrastructure to Algosys clients. Innocent Bigega, founder of Algosys, said joining CreditChek provides access to a broader technology platform and resources for financial institutions the company already serves.
CreditChek's leadership said the goal is not to replicate its Nigerian operations in Uganda but to adapt to local market realities. Lionel Orishane, CTO and co-founder of CreditChek, said, "East Africa is not one market; every country has its own financial behaviour, data sources, regulatory environment and lending dynamics." The company wants to build locally relevant infrastructure while giving lenders access to a common technology layer across Africa.
Broader East African Expansion
Earlier this year, CreditChek raised $600,000 to accelerate its expansion across East Africa after achieving profitability in Nigeria. The company plans to extend its coverage to Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda, with longer-term ambitions in francophone markets. Uganda offers a strategic entry point because of its growing fintech ecosystem, strong digital adoption and Algosys' existing network of 22 financial institutions.
The acquisition also aligns with Uganda's national economic ambitions. The government's Tenfold Growth Strategy targets expanding the economy from approximately $50 billion to $500 billion by 2040, with technology and digital transformation as key drivers. CreditChek believes a more efficient financial system will be essential to that transformation and that its combined platform can help address the gap.
The acquisition represents CreditChek's evolution from a credit assessment provider into a broader financial infrastructure platform for African lenders. It brings together customer acquisition, credit intelligence, loan origination and management capabilities under one roof. For CreditChek, Uganda marks the beginning of its next chapter in building infrastructure that makes credit work better across Africa.