{UAH} Uganda startup Xeno raises Shs571m to help you invest your money

Aeko Ongodia, the founder and CEO of Xeno. Image credit: Ventureburn.com

Xeno Technologies, a Ugandan financial advisory startup, brought in $150,000 (about Shs571 million) from Nordic Impact Funds in an equity funding deal.

Aéko Ongodia, who founded the company in 2016, confirmed the pre-seed funding on a call Thursday morning.

He says the money will be used to ramp up the company's growth plans by injecting it into marketing to acquire more customers in East Africa's third-largest economy.

Xeno help individuals, groups, and companies grow their capital by making goal-based investments.

Using artificial intelligence, an investee is risk-assessed by responding to online questions, which are then computerized and scored on a scale of one to ten.

The questions, which ask for elements like age, current financial situation, overall net worth, the duration with which you like to invest, helps the AI-powered algorithm to assess your stomach for risk.

On a call today morning, Joshua Asiimwe, a client relations manager at Xeno told me they manage the clients' funds, which are invested in different asset classes, for instance, government bonds, fixed deposits, treasury bills, domestic equities, regional equities, etc.

They invest in money markets across East Africa.

Aéko Ongodia, the chief executive of Xeno, has financial markets and investment sector cred, having worked with Stanbic Bank, Bank of Uganda and National Social Security Fund.

The mathematician, who also sits on the board of Vision Group, studied quantitative economists at Makerere University and holds two post graduate degrees — one in mathematical trading and another in applied mathematics and statistics.

He told Disrupt-africa.com, that they are well-positioned to provided professional investment guidance, especially that they have been able to score an investment deal during this time of coronavirus crisis.

"The new equity investment despite the COVID-19 pandemic is major vote of confidence in our operation. More than anything, the pandemic has shown the importance of planning, saving, and investing for emergencies and other financial goals," he said.

"XENO is the best positioned company to scale up the provision of professional investment guidance to the average person to help them to guard against sudden loss of income. We have continued to grow even during these roughs and that is testament to a solid value proposition to our customers."

XENO also recently partnered MTN Uganda to make professional investment advice and management available to its subscribers, according to Disrupt-africa.com.

They also have partnerships with KCB Bank Uganda, Stanbic Bank Uganda and Capital Markets Authority.

According to Disruptafrica.com, the startup has raised over $430,000 since its founding.

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