What is Kuda doing strategically?

Kuda cut net losses from $35.1M in 2023 to $5.8M in 2024 through a 46% reduction in staff costs and a 61% reduction in other operating expenses. In March 2026 it went further, laying off hundreds of employees across marketing, growth, and product, with marketing losing 19 of 40 headcount. Simultaneously, Kuda is forecasting 40% revenue growth in 2025 driven by credit and business banking, not user acquisition.

A company that has halved its marketing function is betting its future on retention, credit performance, and SME deposit growth rather than top-of-funnel competition. That narrows Kuda's threat surface for consumer-facing challengers but intensifies it for anyone competing on SME banking or diaspora remittances, where Kuda is actively investing.

The pivot is credible given the financial evidence, but cutting marketing while simultaneously launching into Tanzania, Canada, and a national physical footprint is a high-wire act. If credit quality holds and SME deposits compound, Kuda may reach operational profitability by late 2026. If macroeconomic pressure in Nigeria tightens further, it will face the same deposit-squeeze problem with less ability to buy back growth.

Kuda relaunched a rebuilt multi-currency wallet in Q1 2025 after shelving its first remittance attempt due to reliance on third-party intermediaries that compressed margins. The new product runs entirely within Kuda's Nerve core banking stack and supports GBP and EUR for UK users, with USD and CAD planned. Tanzania and Canada launches were confirmed for 2026 pending regulatory approvals.

Kuda is positioning the multi-currency wallet as a diaspora retention tool for the 7M users it already has, not as a new-user acquisition vehicle. That is strategically sound but narrow. Nigeria's remittance market rebounded to $20.9B in 2024, and Lemfi, Nala, and Moniepoint are all competing in the same corridor with dedicated products and, in some cases, stronger diaspora brand recognition outside Nigeria.

The in-house build is the right call after the intermediary failure, but Kuda enters remittances as a late mover against well-funded specialists. Its edge is cross-sell into an existing user base. Its structural gap is distribution in diaspora communities where Lemfi and Nala have first-mover brand presence.

In January 2026, the CBN upgraded Kuda MFB's licence to national status, lifting geographic restrictions and requiring a physical presence across Nigeria. Kuda plans to open experience centres in all 36 states. The licence raises minimum paid-up capital requirements to approximately N5B and introduces stricter reporting, governance, and consumer protection obligations.

Physical centres in 36 states add fixed operating costs to a company that just cut deeply to reduce variable costs. The national licence is also a moat: it formally positions Kuda to compete with commercial banks for primary banking relationships, not just as a fintech workaround. For smaller YC-backed challengers without a regulated banking entity, this raises the regulatory credibility gap considerably.

The licence is strategic cover for a long-term play against traditional banks, but in 2026 it adds compliance complexity and capex burden at exactly the wrong time. Watch whether Kuda opens more than a handful of experience centres this year. If it does not, the physical expansion is a regulatory checkbox, not a growth engine.