Notto

What Notto does

Notto operates Africa's first licensed alternative credit bureau (Registration NCRCB60), headquartered in Sandton, South Africa. Founded in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic as a consumer rent-tracking platform, the company pivoted to become a B2B credit infrastructure provider serving banks, fintechs, and telcos. Its core technology is the proprietary Alternative Data Intelligence (ADI) platform, which uses AI/ML to transform alternative financial behavior data—mobile payments, bill payments, rent, and merchant transactions—into credit scores and decisioning intelligence. The system is architected in three modular layers: Visibility (data capture and signal translation), Decisioning (AI-powered scoring and recommendations with explainable, audit-ready outputs), and Deployment (API-first infrastructure supporting cloud, on-premise, or hybrid configurations). The flagship Notto® Score is reported at 85% predictive accuracy (AUC) and is supported by challenger/champion A/B testing, real-time drift and bias monitoring, and dynamic policy tuning. Notto claims over 8 million credit scores generated and 1 billion+ transaction records analyzed, with sub-4% non-performing loan rates reported on Notto-powered lending operations, and holds patent protection across 24+ markets.

Notto generates revenue primarily through subscription-based enterprise licensing of its credit scoring API and platform, supplemented by professional services including Forward Deployed Engineer implementation support, ongoing model monitoring, and Credit Strategy & Policy consulting. Pricing is not publicly disclosed; the company uses a quote-based B2B enterprise sales motion with a structured 90-day onboarding (strategy/infrastructure → build/validate → commercial launch) and a 30-day system setup SLA. The go-to-market combines direct enterprise field sales with API-first distribution, targeting three primary segments: banks seeking portfolio growth and NPL reduction, telcos seeking to monetize alternative data assets, and fintechs seeking approval rate lift and faster product launches. The company is venture-backed by Ventures Platform, Fairbridge, Sterling, Voltron Capital, Kaleo Ventures, and Agrolay (with a disclosed $100,000 seed round in June 2022). Compliance is anchored to South Africa's National Credit Act, FICA, and POPIA, with security controls aligned to ISO 27001.

Name

Notto

Legal name

Notto SA (Pty) Ltd

Website

https://nottoafrica.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Notto operates Africa's first licensed alternative credit bureau, providing AI-powered credit scoring infrastructure that transforms alternative financial data into decisioning intelligence for banks, fintechs, and telcos across 24+ markets.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Alternative Credit Infrastructure

NAICS

Credit Bureaus (561450), Credit Bureaus (56145)

SIC

Services-Consumer Credit Reporting, Collection Agencies (7320)

akta.pro primary industry

Alternative / Non-Traditional Credit Data Providers (FSAKAKAB)

Keywords

• Alternative credit scoring
• Credit bureau services
• Alternative data intelligence
• Credit decisioning APIs
• Financial inclusion infrastructure

Headquarters

HQ city

Johannesburg

HQ country

South Africa

HQ region

Africa

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Credit Bureau Services: Notto operates as a licensed credit bureau providing alternative credit scoring and data intelligence services to financial institutions. Revenue is generated through API access, scoring services, and data processing fees charged to banks, fintechs, and telcos for credit decisioning intelligence.
2. API and Platform Access: Enterprise licensing of AI-powered credit scoring APIs with deployment options (cloud, on-premise, hybrid). Includes real-time and batch scoring capabilities with associated support and maintenance fees.
3. Professional Services: Implementation support including forward deployed engineers for technical integration, ongoing model monitoring, performance optimization, and compliance documentation for board or regulator reviews.
4. Credit Strategy & Policy Consulting: Advisory services including policy design, risk appetite frameworks, and governance models for financial institutions.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Notto is Africa's first licensed alternative credit bureau operating as a B2B credit infrastructure platform. It delivers AI-powered Alternative Data Intelligence (ADI) that transforms alternative financial data — including mobile usage, bill payments, rent, and merchant transactions — into credit scores and decisioning intelligence for banks, fintechs, and telcos across 24+ African markets. The platform offers modular, three-layer architecture (Visibility, Decisioning, Deployment) with API-first deployment options, real-time or batch scoring, and explainable, audit-ready AI models with 85% predictive accuracy.

Product overview

Notto is an alternative credit infrastructure platform for emerging markets that provides a modular, three-layer system (Visibility Layer, Decisioning Layer, Deployment Layer) transforming alternative financial data into credit intelligence. The core product portfolio includes Notto® Score (AI-powered alternative credit scoring with 85% predictive accuracy), AI Infrastructure (scalable deployment options), AI Recommendations (hyper-personalized product recommendations), Implementation Support (Forward Deployed Engineers), and Credit Strategy & Policy services. The proprietary Alternative Data Intelligence (ADI) technology powers all products by turning telco usage, bill payments, rent, and merchant transactions into actionable credit indicators for banks, fintechs, and telcos across 24+ markets.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Alternative Data Intelligence (ADI): The technology and systems that turn alternative data into clear indicators lenders can use to assess borrowers.
• Notto® Score

Products and services

• Notto® Score AI-powered alternative credit scoring using machine learning with customizable scorecards, offering real-time or batch scoring options and continuous performance tracking with 85% predictive accuracy (AUC). Designed for banks, fintechs, and telcos across African markets.
• AI Infrastructure Plug-and-play deployment infrastructure supporting cloud, on-premise, or hybrid configurations with enterprise-grade performance, bank-level security, and API-first design that scales to millions of transactions. Includes 30-day system setup SLA.
• AI Recommendations Hyper-personalized, dynamic product recommendations that drive customer uptake, reduce churn, and expand customer lifetime value based on alternative data signals and credit profile intelligence.
• Implementation Support Forward Deployed Engineers providing technical integration, ongoing model monitoring, performance optimization, and compliance documentation for board or regulator reviews as part of enterprise customer onboarding.
• Credit Strategy & Policy Expert advisory services on credit policy design, risk appetite frameworks, and governance models for credit operations at financial institutions, delivered as part of the Notto platform offering.

Quantifiable outcome

• Reduce Non-Performing Loans (NPL) by up to 50% with live, policy-aligned models
• +5 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability5 records

Feature11 records

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Compuscan (TransUnion South Africa): One of South Africa's largest licensed credit bureaus, now part of TransUnion. Directly comparable as a regulated consumer credit bureau serving banks and lenders in the same South African market Notto operates in, though it relies on traditional credit data rather than alternative data.
• Experian South Africa: Global credit bureau with a major South African presence, providing consumer and business credit reporting to banks and lenders. Comparable as a regulated credit bureau serving the same African financial institution customer base as Notto, but focused on traditional bureau data.
• Creditinfo: Iceland-headquartered global credit bureau and decisioning analytics group with presence across emerging markets. Comparable as a credit bureau providing consumer and business credit information infrastructure to banks and lenders in multiple geographies, including developing markets.

Direct peers

• XDS (Xpert Decision Systems): South African credit bureau and decisioning analytics provider serving banks, retailers, and lenders. Highly comparable as a licensed credit bureau in South Africa providing credit scoring and decision intelligence to financial institutions — directly overlapping with Notto's core product.

Regional players

• Credit Reference Bureau (CRB) Africa: East African credit reference bureau operating in Kenya and surrounding markets. Comparable as a licensed credit bureau serving African banks and lenders with consumer credit reporting, though operating in a different sub-region than Notto.
• Cellulant: Pan-African digital payments and fintech infrastructure provider serving banks and telcos. Comparable as Africa-focused B2B financial infrastructure serving banks and telcos, though focused on payments rather than credit decisioning.

Emerging players

• LenddoEFL: Alternative credit scoring provider specializing in emerging markets using non-traditional data such as mobile, psychometrics, and digital behavior. Closely comparable to Notto's alternative data intelligence approach for unbanked and underbanked populations, though operating across different emerging markets.
• Zest AI: AI-powered credit underwriting platform serving US lenders with machine learning-based scoring. Comparable as an AI-driven alternative credit scoring and decisioning platform selling into financial institutions, though focused on US market rather than Africa.
• Jumo: African fintech providing data-driven financial products via mobile and partner platforms across multiple African markets. Comparable as an alternative-data-driven financial services infrastructure provider operating across African telcos and banks — similar customer base to Notto.
• Tala: Alternative credit and lending platform using mobile data to underwrite thin-file consumers in emerging markets. Comparable in using alternative data to score underbanked populations, though it lends directly rather than selling credit infrastructure to institutions like Notto does.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/nottoafrica
• Facebookfacebook.com/notto.africa
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/nottoafrica

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors6 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Notto