South African fintech Omnisient has secured a $7.5 million Series A investment from Arise. Arise backs African financial service providers and fintechs that work to widen financial inclusion. The round will fund a move into new regions and deeper data partnerships. Omnisient launched in Cape Town in December 2019. Today it runs a privacy-preserving data collaboration platform used by banks, insurers, retailers and healthcare providers.

What the South African Fintech Built

Omnisient’s technology lets data owners and data users work together. They pull commercial insights without exposing personal information. In turn, the platform sets up a controlled, secure space for that analysis. As a result, firms that would never share raw customer records can still draw value from each other’s data.

In practice, the setup works like a data clean room. Two parties match and study records inside a sealed layer. Neither walks away with the other’s raw files. Retailers bring purchase histories. Lenders bring the questions they need answered. From there, the South African fintech turns the overlap into a score or an insight that neither side could build alone.

The model leans on alternative data, not traditional credit files. Specifically, it reads consumer shopping behaviour to support credit risk assessments. So a shopper with thin or no credit history can still be scored for a loan or insurance. Today the South African fintech’s platform protects 160 million consumer profiles. It has already helped millions of underserved people qualify for services they could not reach before.

Why Financial Inclusion Drives the Deal

The funding lands against a hard backdrop. The World Bank estimates that 1.7 billion people still sit outside the formal financial system. That gap locks many of them out of housing, healthcare, education and business credit. For lenders, the core obstacle is data. Without a reliable way to gauge risk, banks tend to pass on customers they cannot measure.

Many of those excluded are not high risk. Instead, they are simply invisible to the systems lenders rely on. Credit bureaus hold thin files or none at all. So a first-time borrower can look the same as a defaulter on paper. Alternative data shifts that picture. Regular spending on groceries, airtime or utilities can reveal stability that a blank credit report hides.

By turning everyday purchases into risk signals, the South African fintech gives lenders a way to approve people they once refused. Meanwhile, consumers keep control of their personal details. The analysis runs inside the protected environment rather than through raw data sharing. This pattern echoes the wider move toward embedded finance, where lending and insurance fold into everyday platforms.

Where the $7.5 Million Goes

Arise’s cheque is set aside for expansion. The investment will carry Omnisient’s platform into Africa, the United Kingdom, the United States and the Middle East. On top of that, the company wants deeper ties with larger data providers. Those links would let its insights span more consumers and more sectors.

For now, the South African fintech says the Series A round remains open. The company is still weighing strategic partners for the US market and the retail media space. Shopper data carries growing commercial weight there. In fact, retail media has become one of the faster-growing pockets of digital advertising. It runs on exactly the kind of purchase records the platform already handles. So that channel offers a second commercial track beyond credit.

Even so, the UK leg arrives at a tricky moment. UK fintech deal activity has declined to a five-year low, according to FintechBits reporting.

Inside the Investor

Arise describes itself as a long-term investor in African financial services. Its focus sits with firms that broaden access. Indeed, the group has held stakes in banks and financial providers across the continent. It frames its fintech bets through the same inclusion lens. For Arise, the Omnisient deal pushes that strategy into data infrastructure. The backing of the South African fintech also hands the investor exposure to the alternative-data layer beneath modern lending.

What Arise and Omnisient Said

Arise framed the deal as a fit with its core thesis. “This investment aligns with our vision of using cutting-edge fintechs to drive growth in Africa’s financial services sector,” said Gavin Tipper, chief executive of Arise. Beyond that, he said the technology would help banks and data providers find new customers, open revenue streams and push inclusion further.

Omnisient’s leadership pointed to scale. “Our mission is to create the world’s largest repository of alternative consumer data to grow financial inclusion,” said Jon Jacobson, co-founder of the South African fintech. He said the Arise money would let the company partner with bigger data providers. In turn, banks and insurers could reach millions more people. Coverage of the round also ran on Disrupt Africa and in Finextra.

A Track Record Behind the Raise

Recognition has trailed the platform for years. The South African fintech earned a “winner for social good” nod on Fast Company’s Next Big Things in Tech list in 2023. It then took “most innovative financial inclusion tech of the year” at the Africa Bank 4.0 Summit. Likewise, TechCrunch named the South African fintech among its game-changing start-ups. Omnisient published the full announcement on its own newsroom. Arise set out its rationale on its own site.

The raise arrives during an uneven stretch for fintech capital. Some regions have pulled back while others rebound. FintechBits tracked that split when European fintech transactions above $100 million rose sharply in a single quarter. For the South African fintech, the immediate task is execution across its four target regions.

What Happens Next

Omnisient has tied its near-term roadmap to two moves. First, it wants to sign larger data partners. Second, it plans to enter the markets the funding is meant to unlock. Meanwhile, the company will court retail media and US partners while the Series A stays open. Each step feeds the same goal the South African fintech set at the start. Ultimately, that goal is a far larger pool of alternative data, one that banks and insurers can use to bring more people into the financial system.