Investment firm C-One Ventures has fully acquired Nigerian fintech startup and licensed microfinance bank, Bankly, as part of its strategy to scale technology-driven financial services in Nigeria.
The acquisition includes Bankly’s licenses, platform, and team, which will be integrated into C-One’s growing fintech ecosystem.
According to a statement from Bankly, a restructuring process is already underway to ensure seamless integration, and Bankly’s CEO, Tomilola Majekodunmi, will support the transition in an advisory role.
Bankly’s journey
Founded in 2018 by Tomilola Adejana and Fredrick Adams, Bankly began with a “recharge to save” model, allowing users to fund digital wallets via voucher tokens—a method familiar to millions of Nigerians through airtime top-ups.
- Since then, Bankly has evolved into a platform offering savings, payments, group contributions, and credit access. Its services are enabled through an agent network of over 50,000 and a customer base exceeding 2 million individuals and businesses across the country.
- The fintech’s acquisition of a Microfinance Bank license marked a major step in its mission to formalize savings and improve financial access, especially for unbanked and underbanked Nigerians.
- The platform’s group savings feature mirrors traditional savings models like ajo and esusu, but with added transparency and security.
- Its work has been instrumental in reducing reliance on cash-based and informal saving methods in low-income and rural communities.
- In March 2024, Bankly secured $2 million in seed funding, with support from major investors including Flutterwave and Vault, the holding company behind VANSO, which was acquired by Interswitch in 2016.
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.”
What you should know
C-One Ventures is an investment company with a specific focus on technology and financing in Nigeria.
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.
