NIGERIA — Nigeria’s leading digital financial services company, Carbon, has posted a record US$17.5 million in revenues for the financial year ending December 31, 2019.

The financial statements audited by Big Four audit and tax consulting giant KPMG, show Carbon’s remarkable growth in revenue during a year.

Last year, carbon also expanded into the crowded Kenya market, offering consumers with access to loans of between US$5 and 500 and opportunities for cash backs and loan top ups.

Carbon has introduced multiple new features for its customer base including Carbon Express: a keyboard allowing users to make payments from any social app, periodic investments, free bank transfers, monthly wallet interest, and more.

Carbon also plans to introduce debit cards, a reward program for loyal customers and SME accounts for entrepreneurs, in the months to come.

Carbon, a pioneer of instant lending in Nigeria, also saw its loan disbursement value grow to ₦23 billion (US$59.35 million) compared to ₦13 billion (US$33.55 million) in 2018.

In February, it launched the Disrupt Fund, a $100,000 Pan-African fund to address the lack of capital for African tech startups.

Carbon has had to make changes to its operations, like several other businesses in light of the rapid spread of the coronavirus globally and the ensuing negative economic impacts, while offering support to its customer base.

“It’s been a challenging year so far for the world with the COVID-19 pandemic. We’re also aware that in such an unprecedented time, our customers are going through significant financial challenges,” Carbon said in the statement.

On this regard, company is offering loan rescheduling for customers experiencing difficulties with repayments and has rescheduled 9,016 loans so far.

 It also recently partnered with insurance provider AXA Mansard to provide eligible customers with a ₦20,000 (US$51.61 million) health benefit, an initiative more than 5,000 customers have benefited from since its launch in April.

Formerly called Paylater, Carbon pioneered instant lending in Nigeria when it was launched in 2012 and was the first mobile app to provide access to credit digitally and without requesting individuals to present the documents and collateral traditionally associated with accessing loans.

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