Nigeria-based fintech OneFi announced on Friday (March 8) that is has secured $5-million in debt financing from Lendable, which is also a debt platform based in Nairobi and New York.
OneFi said the investment will be used to deploy more loans on its consumer facing mobile platform Paylater, which enables users to transfer money, recharge airtime and pay bills.
The company, founded in 2012 by CEO Chijioke Dozie and director Ngozi Dozie, has raised a total of $10.8-million across three funding rounds.
OneFi CEO Chijioke Dozie said, “As we transition into a full service digital bank, this financing will allow us to execute on a number of new products. This includes our partnership with Visa, whereby we’ll be providing credit via QR codes at supermarkets, clinics and on public transport in H1 2019.” This investment is the company’s first internationally-backed commercial debt transaction.
OneFi’s Paylater service launched in 2016 and has since deployed north of $60 million in loans to 750,000 individuals. It processes 1500 loans daily on average, each at $80.
The company also added that the deal with Lendable comes just two month after it secured a “BB rating with stable outlook” from Global Credit Rating Co, which OneFi claims is the continent’s first credit rating for fintech platforms.
This investment places OneFi in a better financial position to double its operations within Nigeria while gearing up to expand into new frontiers later in the year.
Lendable CEO Daniel Goldfarb said the firm is excited to be partnering with OneFi in order to establish its presence in Nigeria. He described the company(OneFi) as being, ” an “incredible example” of a company that has found product marker fit in a “massive market”, and that is working “tirelessly” to provide best-in-class service to those customers.”
Paylater was one of three African startups selected to join the 2017 class of Google’s Launchpad Accelerator. It was also shortlisted among the 20 finalists of the Ecobank Fintech Challenge.
