Carbon Completes Acquisition of Vella Finance

Carbon, a top digital fintech service provider, has acquired Vella Finance, a Nigerian firm focusing on small and medium-sized enterprises.

The fintech giant announced the acquisition of Vella Finance in an official statement on Wednesday.

However, the firm did not release the financial details contained in the acquisition proceedings of Vella Finance.

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Carbon, however, completed the acquisition of the two-year-old Vella Finance through its parent company, One Credit Limited.

Carbon stated that it's aiming to leverage Vella Finance's AI-powered SME banking feature that helps users get actionable insights from financial transactions.

Following the completion of the acquisition, Tolu Adebayo, the co-founder, and COO of Vella Finance, disclosed that several founders and team members from the startup have migrated to Carbon following the seal of the contract.

Adebayo said this integration will extend to Vella Finance's 8,000 SME customers, who will be transitioned to Carbon Business in the coming days.

He also added that individual customers will be given the choice to upgrade to business accounts as part of this development.

Throwing more light on the acquisition, the co-founder of Carbon, Chijioke Dozie, said, 

• Carbon spearheaded the consumer finance revolution in Nigeria in 2016. Our goal was to give consumers unprecedented access to finance from their mobile devices. Since then, we have provided some loans to SMEs but have yet to meet our standards or the customers' expectations.

• We have known the Vella Finance team for some time and admire their innovation and understanding of market needs. We saw in them the same innovative and pioneering spirit that ignited Carbon.

• They had built an SME platform that we believe is unrivaled in the market, and given our aspirations, the deal was a no-brainer.

The co-founder and CEO of Vella Finance, Mark Afolabi, said,

• This is exciting news for businesses, and we are thrilled to join forces with Carbon. These are trying times for businesses in Nigeria and by joining forces.

• We can provide businesses with a platform that provides AI-driven insights into their transactions, low-cost, accessible loans, and the power of AI models built into the platform to help with any business challenge.

Despite the ownership change, Vella Finance clarified that it would not stop positively affecting its customers.

The startup said the acquisition will allow it to reach more customers, develop cutting-edge financial products, and provide a more secure banking experience.

Meanwhile, the co-founders of Carbon, Chijioke Dozie and Ngozi Dozie, are the sons of the erstwhile chairman of Diamond Bank and MTN Nigeria, Paschal Dozie.

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Their elder brother, Uzoma Dozie, founded a digital microfinance bank, Sparkle, after he left Diamond Bank as CEO. The trio grew up in an environment where banking was all they knew.