Nigerian fintech startup One Finance (OneFi), which runs lending platform Paylater, has secured a US$5 million debt facility from Nairobi and US-based Lendable as it focuses on doubling its size in 2019.
In 2016 OneFi rolled out its consumer facing platform Paylater, which since then has deployed over US$60 million across 750,000 loans, approving over 1,500 loans a day with an average size of US$80.
The startup has now secured US$5 million in debt funding from Lendable, a technology-enabled funding provider to African consumer and SME lenders. The debt facility will be used to deploy more loans to Paylater customers, specifically through a suite of innovative new products. OneFi is looking to double in size within Nigeria before entering new markets in 2019.
“Securing this investment from Lendable represents the first internationally-backed commercial debt transaction for us, marking an important stage of our company’s development as we look to serve the “next billion”,” said OneFi chief executive officer (CEO) Chijioke Dozie.
“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.”
There are currently only 120k active POS merchants in Nigeria, with over 50 per cent of transactions occurring in Lagos alone. Leveraging the power of the mobile phone, Paylater is aiming to help millions of customers transact at their point of need, and drive offline payments via lower cost QR installations.
The investment into OneFi marks the first Nigerian deal Lendable has signed, and one of a handful of new Nigerian clients for the company.
“We are incredibly excited to launch this partnership with OneFi, a market leader, as we build our presence in Nigeria. At Lendable, we build financial products to enable lending companies to scale, and we are proud to support OneFi’s mission of providing credit to the underbanked consumer and SME segments in Nigeria. They are an incredible example of a company that has found product market fit in a massive market, and are working tirelessly to provide a best-in-class service to those customers,” said Daniel Goldfarb, Lendable’s CEO.
