Ascent Rift Valley Fund (ARVF), an SME focused private equity fund investor, has invested in Chims Africa, a mobile money operator in Uganda.

Richard Mugera, Ascent Capital Uganda Country Director, said that Uganda has over the last few years become one of the leading nations in mobile money in the world.

“We are very pleased to team up with Chims to help cement the company's leading position in the Ugandan market. This investment will allow Chims to ensure availability of its service to customers at all times in this rapidly evolving market,” he said.

Chims Africa is the largest agent operator within the MTN mobile money network, the Ugandan market leader in Mobile Money, with a strong position in rural areas with over 130 outlets across the country.

Norman Batuma, Chims CEO, said that the company had recorded rapid growth since inception and was now looking to expand its financial services business by increasing its national foot print and introducing new services.

Chims currently has over 190 Employees.

Through its services and outlets, Chims has indirectly created job opportunities for many more and plans are underway for further rural expansion.

Chims continues to grow its customer base daily and currently stands at over 7 million users.

Ascent’s direct investment in expansion of agent network, will directly strengthen the customer reach in rural areas.

“We continue to explore avenues through which we can add more value to our customers. We target increasing our Mobile Money Branches by 700 outlets and at the same time be the leading provider of Mobile Money and related financial services to deepen financial inclusion in Uganda,” Batuma added.

This is the second investment by ARVF this year.

In February 2015, the Fund invested $2.5m into Medpharm Holdings Africa, a medical diagnostic laboratory with operations in Ethiopia and expansion ambitions in the greater East Africa region.

ARVF targets scalable fast growing enterprises in Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia.

The fund invests between $2m and $10m per investee company.