Leading non profit organisation Grameen Foundation, Germany’s KfW and NGO Care have each purchased 25 percent of Musoni Kenya which provides the country’s poor with microfinance loans via mobile phone.

Musoni claims to be the first such mobile finance provider in the world. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The support of its new backers will enable Musoni Kenya to grow its existing business, improve the penetration of its service in the country’s rural areas where financial inclusion is lowest and support its bid to win a licence from the Central Bank of Kenya that would enable it to accept savings deposits from its customers, in addition to making loans.

Musoni, which launched in 2010, distributes its loans to a user’s mobile phone. Their repayments are made via M-Pesa, Kenya’s popular SMS-based mobile money service rather than as cash. M-Pesa has a high penetration among the country’s poor. Notice about arrears are sent via SMS.

Musoni does have physical branches which customers visit to discuss and arrange their loans. The company currently has 7,300 customers and plans to grow that figure to 34,000 by 2013.

The Dutch based holding company Musoni BV which was the initial investor in Musoni Kenya will remain a minority shareholder following the new backing.

KfW is Germany’s state-owned development bank. Care is an NGO whose aim is to promote financial services in Africa. It has invested in Musoni Kenya via its for-profit Access Africa Fund.