Who Owns Kuda Bank? Founders, Funding & The Story Behind the Name

Last Updated: June 2026

Kuda Bank does not have a single owner. It has two co-founders who built it from a struggling lending platform into one of Africa’s most valuable fintech companies, a London-incorporated parent company that holds the equity, and a growing list of venture capital investors who collectively own a meaningful minority stake after multiple funding rounds. Understanding who actually owns Kuda requires untangling all three layers — and, just as importantly, understanding the corporate name change that explains why so many Nigerians still ask what Kuda used to be called.

This article sets out exactly what is publicly confirmed about Kuda’s ownership, founding, and funding history as of June 2026 — and is equally clear about the handful of details where public sources genuinely disagree, rather than presenting a guess as settled fact.

Quick Answer: Who Owns Kuda Bank?

Kuda Bank is owned by its parent company, Kuda Technologies Limited, headquartered in London, United Kingdom. The company was co-founded by Babatunde “Babs” Ogundeyi, who serves as Group CEO, and Mustapha “Musty” Mustapha, who is Co-Founder and CTO at group level and also serves as Managing Director/CEO of Kuda Microfinance Bank, the Nigerian regulated entity. The founders retain majority ownership, while venture capital investors — including Target Global, Valar Ventures, SBI Investment, and Entrée Capital — hold a minority equity stake earned through several funding rounds totalling more than $91 million as of Kuda’s last disclosed raise in 2024. Kuda operates in Nigeria through its subsidiary, Kuda Microfinance Bank, which is licensed and regulated by the Central Bank of Nigeria.

The Founders: Babs Ogundeyi and Musty Mustapha

Babatunde “Babs” Ogundeyi is Kuda’s Co-Founder and Group Chief Executive Officer. Before starting the company, he spent roughly a decade at PwC in audit and advisory roles, working with banks and financial institutions across Africa. In 2011, he left PwC to become Special Adviser on Finance to the Governor of Oyo State, Nigeria, where he was responsible for capital raising, setting up the state’s debt management office and public-private partnership office, and helping increase the state’s internally generated revenue roughly fivefold over four years. He also led a ₦55 billion bond programme — the largest in the state’s history at the time — and helped turn the state’s microfinance bank from a loss-making entity into a profitable one. He holds a BA (Honours) in Business Studies and Accounting from Brunel University London.

Mustapha “Musty” Mustapha is Kuda’s Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer at the group level, and additionally serves as Managing Director and CEO of Kuda Microfinance Bank, the company’s regulated Nigerian banking subsidiary. Before co-founding Kuda, he built his technical background working in software development roles at major Nigerian banks, including Stanbic IBTC and First Bank — which is also where the two founders first met. This dual structure, in which Mustapha leads the Nigerian regulated entity specifically while Ogundeyi leads the wider group, reflects how Kuda’s corporate structure separates its UK-incorporated parent from its Nigeria-licensed banking subsidiary.

When Was Kuda Actually Founded? Addressing a Genuine Discrepancy

This is a point where Brands.Ng owes you transparency rather than a tidy, single answer, because credible public sources do not fully agree.

Several authoritative sources — including Kuda’s own Wikipedia page and Crunchbase’s investor-facing profile — state that Kuda was founded in 2019, the year it launched its banking app and secured its first funding. However, multiple Nigerian technology and business publications, along with CB Insights’ company profile, trace the company’s actual incorporation and first product launch to 2016 or 2017, under a different name and a different business model entirely: an online-only savings and lending platform called Kudimoney (also written as KudiMoney or Kudimoney Bank). Some accounts place the original idea and early build phase in 2016, with formal incorporation following in 2017 or 2018, and at least one contemporaneous 2019 announcement from the company itself referred to having operated as Kudimoney for some time before the rebrand.

What is not in dispute, and is confirmed by primary reporting from the time, including direct coverage in Vanguard, BusinessDay, and TechCrunch published in mid-2019: in June 2019, the company announced it had secured a microfinance banking licence from the Central Bank of Nigeria and was simultaneously rebranding from Kudimoney to Kuda. The company’s own stated reason for the rename, given in its 2019 announcement, was that the “Kudi” name had been widely adopted by other Nigerian fintech startups by that point, diluting its distinctiveness.

The most defensible way to summarise this for anyone researching Kuda’s history: the Kuda brand, banking licence, and full-service banking model date to 2019. The underlying company and founding team’s original venture — under the Kudimoney name, focused on lending rather than full banking — predates that by two to three years, with sources placing the original launch anywhere from 2016 to 2018. If you see a source confidently stating only one of these years with no qualification, treat it with some caution — the full picture is more layered than a single date.

So What Was Kuda’s Former Name?

Kuda’s only confirmed former name is Kudimoney (also rendered as KudiMoney or Kudimoney Bank in earlier press coverage). It operated under this name as an online savings and short-term lending platform aimed primarily at young, mobile-first Nigerians, before its June 2019 rebrand to Kuda coincided directly with receiving its CBN microfinance banking licence and pivoting into full digital banking.

If you have seen Kuda referred to by other names in casual conversation, these are not former corporate names but informal labels Nigerians commonly use for the brand: “Kuda MFB” or “Kuda Microfinance Bank” (its full regulated entity name), “the bank of the free” (Kuda’s own long-running marketing tagline, referencing its zero-fee model), and simply “Kuda” or “KUDA” in everyday speech. None of these are alternate legal names — Kudimoney remains the only documented prior corporate identity.

The Corporate Structure: Who Legally Owns What

Kuda’s ownership operates across two connected but distinct legal entities, and understanding this structure clarifies a lot of the conflicting information you may encounter elsewhere.

Kuda Technologies Limited is the UK-incorporated parent company, headquartered at 5 New Street Square, London, EC4A 3TW. This is the entity that has raised venture capital funding across multiple rounds and is the ultimate holding structure through which the founders and investors hold their equity.

Kuda Microfinance Bank (Kuda MFB) is the Nigerian-incorporated, Central Bank of Nigeria-regulated subsidiary through which Kuda actually conducts licensed banking activity in Nigeria — accepting deposits, issuing debit cards, and extending overdrafts and loans to its Nigerian customers. Kuda MFB is registered at 1-11 Commercial Avenue, Yaba, Lagos, with an additional address at Moore House, 151 Herbert Macaulay Way, Yaba.

This two-entity structure is standard for fintech companies of Kuda’s profile that need to satisfy both international investor expectations (typically more comfortable investing into a UK or Delaware holding company) and Nigerian banking regulation (which requires a locally incorporated, separately capitalised entity to hold a banking licence). When you open a Kuda account in Nigeria, your deposit relationship is legally with Kuda Microfinance Bank, not directly with the London parent.

Who Owns the Equity: Founders vs. Investors

Kuda is a privately held company, which means there is no publicly filed shareholder register disclosing exact ownership percentages — a limitation every credible source on this topic, including financial analysis platforms like PitchBook and Crunchbase, acknowledges rather than guesses around.

What can be stated with confidence, based on Kuda’s own funding disclosures, is the broad shape of the cap table. Babs Ogundeyi and Musty Mustapha founded and built the company from its earliest, pre-funded stage, meaning their initial ownership was effectively 100%. Every subsequent funding round — from the earliest pre-seed investment through Kuda’s most recent disclosed raise — necessarily diluted that founder ownership in exchange for capital, following standard venture financing practice. Based on the publicly disclosed total raise relative to Kuda’s most recent known valuation, outside investors collectively hold a minority but meaningful equity stake, while the founders are widely reported to retain majority ownership. No source available to Brands.ng at the time of this article’s publication discloses a precise current percentage split, and any article claiming an exact number for founder versus investor ownership should be treated with scepticism unless it cites a specific regulatory filing.

Confirmed institutional investors, drawn from Kuda’s own funding announcements and corroborated across Crunchbase, Tracxn, and contemporaneous reporting from TechCrunch and Techpoint Africa, include: Target Global (co-led the seed round and later rounds), Valar Ventures (Kuda’s first African investment, co-led Series B), SBI Investment (Japan-based, participated in Series B), and Entrée Capital. Additional listed investors across Kuda’s funding history include Century Oak Ventures, Full Circle Africa, Jonomi Ventures, Launch Africa Ventures, and a number of angel investors from Kuda’s earliest rounds, though Brands.ng has not independently verified the exact round-by-round participation of every name on these longer investor lists.

Kuda’s Funding History: What’s Actually Confirmed

The funding rounds below are drawn from Kuda’s own public announcements and corroborated by direct reporting from TechCrunch and Techpoint Africa at the time each round closed:

• Pre-seed (2018): Approximately $15,000, while still operating as Kudimoney
• Pre-seed (September 2019): $1.6 million, shortly after the rebrand to Kuda
• Seed (November 2020): $10 million, led by Target Global
• Series A (March 2021): $25 million
• Series B (August 2021): $55 million, co-led by Valar Ventures and Target Global, with participation from SBI Investment, at a $500 million valuation — the figure most commonly cited as Kuda’s peak disclosed valuation
• 2024 round: $20 million in equity funding, at a valuation reported to remain around the same $500 million mark

Adding these figures together produces a total raised of approximately $91.6 million through the 2021 Series B, a figure independently confirmed by Techpoint Africa’s contemporaneous reporting. Some company-data aggregators, including CB Insights, cite a slightly higher cumulative total of $111.62 million, which likely reflects the inclusion of the 2024 round and possibly additional smaller financings not broken out individually elsewhere. Brands.ng presents both figures here rather than asserting one as definitively correct, since neither source provides a fully itemised reconciliation.

It is worth noting directly: Kuda’s 2024 raise came after the company had recorded close to $45 million in cumulative losses over the prior two years, according to BusinessDay’s reporting — a detail that matters for understanding the context behind Kuda’s more recent strategic shift toward cost discipline, discussed further below.

2026 Update: What’s Changed Since Kuda’s Last Major Valuation

Three developments through the first half of 2026 are directly relevant to anyone researching Kuda’s current ownership and operating status, and a responsible answer to “who owns Kuda Bank” in mid-2026 needs to account for all three.

The CBN upgraded Kuda’s banking licence to national status in January 2026. On January 26, 2026, the Central Bank of Nigeria confirmed it had upgraded the operating licences of several major fintechs — including Kuda, Moniepoint, and OPay — from a more limited regional or unit classification to full national status. For Kuda specifically, this replaced the Unit Microfinance Bank licence it had held (valid until December 2025) with a National Microfinance Bank licence, removing the geographic restriction that had previously confined Kuda MFB’s physical operations to a single location. This is a regulatory status change, not an ownership change, but it is significant: it raises Kuda’s minimum required paid-up capital from ₦200 million to ₦5 billion, and it permits Kuda to open physical “experience centres” across Nigeria for the first time, modelled on its existing centre in Yaba, Lagos. Musty Mustapha, in his capacity as MD/CEO of Kuda MFB, described the upgrade as strengthening Kuda’s regulatory relationship with the CBN rather than representing any shift away from its digital-first model.

Kuda has narrowed its losses substantially. According to BusinessDay’s reporting, Kuda reduced its losses to approximately $5.83 million in 2024, down sharply from $35.11 million the year before, helped by stronger performance from its Nigerian business and reduced operating expenses. Its Nigerian unit’s revenue in local currency nearly doubled to roughly ₦21.2 billion over the same period. Babs Ogundeyi has stated the company’s monthly net margin has ranged between 3% and 7%.

Kuda conducted significant layoffs in March 2026 as part of a broader restructuring. On March 27, 2026, Kuda confirmed workforce reductions affecting multiple departments, including product development, marketing, and business development, with reports indicating that 19 of the marketing unit’s 40 employees were affected in that team alone, and industry sources suggesting the total impact may run into the hundreds across the company. A Kuda spokesperson stated the decision was not linked to financial distress or individual employee performance, but reflected a strategic review of the company’s organisational structure ahead of its next growth phase, with affected staff receiving enhanced severance and transition support. This restructuring does not represent any change in who owns Kuda — the founders and existing investor base remain unchanged — but it is a material fact anyone researching Kuda’s current standing in 2026 should be aware of, since it reflects the broader shift across African fintech from growth-at-all-costs toward demonstrated profitability.

None of these three developments altered Kuda’s fundamental ownership structure. The founders and the existing investor syndicate remain the company’s owners; what has changed is Kuda’s regulatory classification, its financial trajectory, and its internal organisational structure.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Kuda Bank owned by a Nigerian or foreign company?

Both, in a structural sense. Kuda’s ultimate parent company, Kuda Technologies Limited, is incorporated and headquartered in London, United Kingdom, which is why some sources describe Kuda as a “UK-headquartered” or “London-based” fintech. However, its founders, Babs Ogundeyi and Musty Mustapha, are both Nigerian, the company’s core market and the overwhelming majority of its customers are in Nigeria, and its actual regulated banking operations run through Kuda Microfinance Bank, a Nigerian entity licensed and supervised by the Central Bank of Nigeria. In practice, Kuda is best described as a Nigerian-founded, Nigerian-focused fintech that uses a UK holding company structure — a common arrangement among African startups seeking international venture capital, since many global investors prefer investing into UK or US-incorporated entities.

Did Kuda Bank used to have a different name?

Yes. Kuda was originally launched as Kudimoney (sometimes written KudiMoney), an online-only savings and short-term lending platform, before the company rebranded to Kuda in June 2019. The rename coincided directly with the company receiving its first banking licence from the Central Bank of Nigeria and shifting its business model from lending alone to full-service digital banking. According to the company’s own 2019 statement, the rebrand away from “Kudi” was partly because the name had become widely used by other Nigerian fintech startups by that point.

Is Kuda Bank a real bank or just a savings app?

Kuda is a real, licensed bank in the specific regulatory sense that matters in Nigeria: it operates through Kuda Microfinance Bank, which holds a National Microfinance Bank licence from the Central Bank of Nigeria, upgraded to that national status in January 2026. This licence permits Kuda to accept deposits, issue debit cards, extend loans and overdrafts, and operate current and savings accounts. It is not a commercial bank in the same regulatory tier as institutions like GTBank or Access Bank, which hold full commercial banking licences, but it is a genuinely regulated deposit-taking institution, not an unregulated savings app. Deposits with Kuda Microfinance Bank are insured by the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), subject to NDIC’s standard coverage limits.

The Brands.Ng Bottom Line

Kuda Bank’s ownership is, at its core, straightforward: two Nigerian founders, Babs Ogundeyi and Musty Mustapha, built the company from an early-stage lending platform called Kudimoney into one of Africa’s best-known digital banks, retaining majority ownership through multiple funding rounds that brought in institutional investors including Target Global and Valar Ventures, all structured through a London-incorporated parent company that holds equity above a separately regulated Nigerian banking subsidiary.

What makes the full picture harder to summarise in a single sentence — and what this article has tried to be honest about throughout — is that several specific historical details, including Kuda’s precise founding year and the exact current equity split between founders and investors, are genuinely not settled in public sources with the precision some other articles on this topic imply. Where Brands.ng could not verify a claim to a standard we are confident in, we have said so directly rather than presenting an estimate as fact.

Also read: Kuda Bank vs GTBank for Freelancers in Nigeria: An Honest Comparison

What is certain heading into the second half of 2026: Kuda remains founder-led, has just secured a more flexible national banking licence, has materially improved its financial discipline, and is navigating the same growth-to-profitability transition reshaping fintech across the African continent.

Editorial Note: This article reflects publicly available company disclosures, regulatory announcements, and verified reporting from BusinessDay, TechCabal, Techpoint Africa, TechCrunch, Punch, Vanguard, and company-data platforms including Crunchbase, PitchBook, CB Insights, and Tracxn, current as of June 2026. Where sources presented conflicting information — specifically regarding Kuda’s exact founding year and total cumulative funding figure — this has been stated transparently rather than resolved by assumption. Brands.ng does not receive payment for editorial coverage. Kuda was not contacted directly for this specific article; where the company’s own public statements are quoted, they are drawn from its on-record statements to other publications.

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