C-One Ventures acquires Bankly; CEO, to stay on in advisory capacity

Bankly, a Nigerian fintech company and licensed microfinance bank, has announced the full acquisition of its Nigerian operations by C-One Ventures. The deal will see Bankly’s services, licenses and talent integrated with complementary offerings from other companies within the C-One Ventures portfolio.

C-One Ventures is an investment company focused specifically on technology and financing in Nigeria.

According to a statement shared with Technext, C-One Ventures will assimilate Bankly’s licenses, talent and its rich partner platform as part of the acquisition.

It also indicates that a reorganisation and restructuring process is underway to seamlessly integrate Bankly into the C-One Ventures family. Also, CEO Tomilola Majekodunmi will continue to support the transition in an advisory capacity.

The company’s existing portfolio includes Fulcrum, a technology and financing platform that unlocks working capital for suppliers in Nigeria through payable finance and other supply chain financing (SCF) products, GetPayed, an all-in-one app for managing payment and banking solutions, and gomoney, a digital bank offering a modern, app-based alternative to traditional banking.

The addition of Bankly further strengthens C-One Ventures’ commitment to technology-enabled financial services for businesses and individuals.

Speaking on the acquisition, Tomiliola Majekodunmi, CEO and co-founder of Bankly, said:

“I am immensely proud of what we have achieved at Bankly over the last six years. Bankly was founded with a mission to drive financial inclusion to the last mile, and we have certainly made significant progress on that front. Like any business, we’ve faced our share of challenges, but I’m confident that this acquisition will keep the Bankly vision alive and further advance our mission of empowering more Nigerians through inclusive financial solutions.”

Founded by Tomilola Adejana and Fredrick Adams in 2018, Bankly, at its onset, provided a digital savings and peer-to-peer transfer platform where users can fund their wallets using tokens available on Bankly vouchers nationwide in a “recharge to save” model.

The model was analogous to the mobile airtime top-up available on MTN and other network operators in Nigeria.

Since then, Bankly has made significant strides in bridging the financial gap for Nigeria’s unbanked and underbanked populations by offering secure, digital alternatives to informal savings methods like “ajo” or “esusu.”

Its group Savings feature is an innovative approach to communal savings that creates transparency and accountability. It combines accessibility, a user-friendly interface, and an emphasis on transparency to give users a way to save for important needs.

Through its platform and extensive agent network, the company provides services including savings, payments, and access to credit, integrating more individuals into the formal financial system.

The launch of its Microfinance Bank marks a significant milestone in Bankly’s journey to provide accessible financial solutions to individuals and businesses across Nigeria.

With an extensive network of over 50,000 agents nationwide and a customer base of over 2 million individuals and businesses across Nigeria, the fintech startup has played a pivotal role in advancing financial inclusion and economic empowerment of millions, particularly in low-income and rural communities.

Recall that Bankly raised $2 million in a seed funding round in March 2024. The round was led by co-investors including African payments unicorn, Flutterwave and Vault, the holding company of VANSO, a fintech acquired by Interswitch in 2016.