NIGERIA – Fintech startup Carbon has acquired counterpart Vella Finance through its parent company One Credit Limited, alongside the simultaneous launch of a groundbreaking AI-powered business banking platform.
Consumer lending platform Carbon rebranded in 2019 as parent company OneFi transitioned into being a full digital banking platform after raising US$5 million in debt funding and acquiring Nigerian payments startup Amplify.
Vella, on the other hand, was founded in 2021 and launched in 2020. It enables borderless transfers and remittances across the world powered by cryptocurrency. Its acquisition by Carbon marks a significant leap forward in the latter’s mission to empower small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with advanced, accessible financial services that leverage the latest in artificial intelligence.
“Carbon spearheaded the consumer finance revolution in Nigeria in 2016. Our goal was to give consumers unprecedented access to finance from their mobile devices,” said Chijioke Dozie, co-founder of Carbon.
“Since then we have provided some loans to SMEs but not in a manner that meets our standards or the customers’ expectations. We have known the Vella Finance team for some time and admired their innovation and understanding of the market needs.
“We saw in them the same innovative and pioneering spirit that ignited Carbon. They had built an SME platform that we believe is unrivaled in the market and given our aspirations, the deal was a no-brainer.”
Mark Afolabi, co-founder and CEO of Vella Finance, said the deal was “exciting news” for businesses.
“We are thrilled to join forces with Carbon. These are trying times for businesses in Nigeria and by joining forces, we can provide businesses a platform that provides AI driven insights into their transactions, low-cost accessible loans and the power of A.I models built into the platform to help with any business challenge,” he said.
In the coming days, Vella Finance will transition business customers to Carbon Business and offer individual customers the option to upgrade to business accounts.
Following the acquisition by Carbon, the fintech’s solutions will now be utilised as part of the new Carbon Business banking platform. The companies add that Vella Finance will transition its business customers to Carbon Business and will “offer individual customers the option to upgrade to business accounts”.
The platform will enable businesses to access loans, create sub-accounts for the purposes of financial organisation, and automate and split income streams into said accounts.
Carbon has also tapped Vella Finance’s AI capabilities to incorporate transaction analysis into its new business platform, which it claims will afford “deep insights into your financial transactions, enabling smarter decision-making and growth strategies”.
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