Carbon

What Carbon does

Carbon is a Nigerian digital banking platform operating as Carbon Microfinance Bank Limited, licensed and regulated by the Central Bank of Nigeria with NDIC-insured deposits. Founded in 2012 in Lagos as One Credit, the company initially provided paper-based salary loans before launching Nigeria's first fully digital consumer lending app (Paylater) in May 2016 and rebranding to Carbon in 2019 as its product suite expanded. Carbon serves individual consumers and Nigerian SMEs through a mobile-first and web platform with no physical branches, offering personal loans (₦2,500 to ₦1,000,000), business loans (₦100,000 to ₦9,500,000) across working capital, asset finance, and Flex products, savings products (Cash Vault up to 20% interest, Goals, FlexSave), Carbon Zero BNPL at 0% interest, Pink Passport debit card on the Verve network, Carbon Circles group savings, and Vendi invoice discounting acquired through Vella Finance in February 2024. The platform also distributes through a Partner API enabling third-party platforms to embed automated merchant financing.

The underlying technology centers on cashflow-based credit assessment that underwrites borrowers without collateral using transactional and behavioral data, with 10-13% loan loss rates reported through economic crises. AI-driven insights power the SME banking platform post-Vella acquisition, and the company's go-to-market combines self-serve digital onboarding (5-minute account opening, 24-48 hour loan disbursement) with assisted sales via callback for business customers. Revenue is generated through interest on personal and business loans (monthly rates 3.99%-30%), BNPL merchant processing fees (5%), invoice discounting fees (5%), subscription fees (Carbon Pro at ₦5,000/month), business account maintenance fees (₦100/month), and savings intermediation.

Carbon reports 5M+ users and operates across Nigeria and Ghana with 90+ employees, a management team led by co-founders Chijioke Dozie (CEO, ex-IFC and Zephyr Management) and Ngozi Dozie (Managing Director, ex-JPMorgan, Wharton MBA, CFA), and approximately $15.8M in disclosed historical equity funding across four rounds (2014-2019), with no public equity raise since the 2019 Lendable round.

Name

Carbon

Legal name

Carbon Microfinance Bank Limited

Website

https://ng.getcarbon.co

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Carbon is a CBN-licensed Nigerian neobank offering digital personal and business loans, savings, BNPL, invoice discounting, and debit card services to over 5 million consumers and SMEs across Nigeria and Ghana through its mobile app and web platform.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Lagos

HQ country

Nigeria

HQ region

Africa

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Business Loans - Working Capital: Interest-bearing loans ranging from ₦100K to ₦9.5M with monthly interest rates starting at 3.99%, tenor of 1-6 months for new customers and up to 12 months for returning customers. Repaid as business earns.
2. Business Loans - Asset Finance: Equipment financing from ₦1M to ₦9.5M with asset as collateral, tenor 3-12 months, rates based on evaluation. Asset-secured lending with longer repayment periods.
3. Flex Loan: Instant credit access from ₦100K to ₦500K with 6% flat rate, opened with ₦150K deposit. Revenue from interest on drawn amounts.
4. Personal Loans: Instant personal loans from ₦2,500 to ₦1,000,000 with monthly interest rates ranging from 4.5% to 30%, APR up to 195% per annum. No collateral or guarantors required.
5. Carbon Zero (BNPL): Buy now pay later with 0% interest for 4-installment payments over 6 weeks or 3 months, with 5% one-time processing fee charged to merchant/retailer partners.
6. Vendi Invoice Discounting: Invoice discounting providing up to 95% of invoice value upfront with 5% discount fee deducted upfront. Carbon collects directly from corporate clients.
7. Savings and Investments: Cash Vault fixed savings earning up to 20% interest on 12-month terms with ₦50,000 minimum; Goals savings earning up to 9.5% interest; FlexSave earning up to 9% interest.
8. Carbon Circles Membership Fee: Group savings circles with 5% service fee on contributions to maintain platform and ensure secure transactions.
9. Business Account Fees: ₦100,000 one-time account opening fee for wallet infrastructure access, plus ₦100 monthly maintenance per active account plus 7.5% VAT. Transfer fees range from ₦10-50 plus bank charges and VAT.
10. Carbon Pro Subscription: ₦5,000 per month subscription for premium business account features including multi-user access, sub-accounts, advanced invoicing, treasury management, and daily transaction limit up to ₦250 million.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Carbon is a Nigerian digital neobank (operating as Carbon Microfinance Bank, licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria) that delivers collateral-free personal loans from ₦2,500 to ₦1,000,000 and SME business loans from ₦100K to ₦9.5M, alongside savings products, buy-now-pay-later, invoice discounting (Vendi), a Verve debit card (Pink Passport), and an embedded lending API. Loans are underwritten using AI-powered cashflow-based credit assessment and disbursed digitally within 24–48 hours to customers across Nigeria and Ghana.

Product overview

Carbon is a Nigerian neobank offering a unified digital financial platform through mobile app and web channels. The product portfolio centers on two main segments: Personal banking (instant loans ₦2,500–₦1,000,000, Carbon Zero BNPL, Pink Passport debit card, Carbon Circles savings groups, savings products, and payments) and Business banking (AI-powered SME loans up to ₦9.5M, Carbon Flex/Pro business accounts with sub-accounts and bulk payments, Vendi invoice discounting acquired through Vella Finance, and the Partner API for third-party merchant financing integration). The platform operates as Carbon Microfinance Bank, licensed by CBN and NDIC-insured, with over 5 million users and operations in Nigeria and Ghana.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Vendi: Invoice discounting solution that gives businesses up to 95% of their invoice value upfront. Carbon pays the business now and waits on the client for payment.

Products and services

• Carbon Business AI-powered business banking platform for Nigerian SMEs offering collateral-free working capital loans (₦100K–₦9.5M at rates from 3.99%/month), asset financing (₦1M–₦9.5M, 3–12 months), and Flex loans (₦100K–₦500K at 6% flat). Includes a free basic account (Flex) and a premium Carbon Pro subscription at ₦5,000/month with multi-user access, sub-accounts, automated split inflows, advanced invoicing, treasury management, and daily transaction limits up to ₦250 million. Disbursement in 24–48 hours.
• Carbon Personal Loans Instant personal loans for Nigerian individuals from ₦2,500 to ₦1,000,000 with monthly interest rates from 4.5% to 30% (APR up to 195% per annum) and repayment periods of 61 days to 12 months. No collateral or guarantors required. Funded within minutes via the mobile app, accessible 24/7.
• Carbon Zero (BNPL) Buy-now-pay-later product allowing customers to split purchases into 4 installments at 0% interest over 6 weeks or 3 months, with a 5% one-time processing fee charged to merchant/retailer partners. No late fees for missed payments.
• Vendi (Invoice Discounting) Invoice discounting solution for CAC-registered businesses providing up to 95% of invoice value upfront with a 5% flat discount fee deducted upfront. No collateral required; Carbon collects payment directly from the corporate client. Accessed via the Vendi platform (vendi.getcarbon.co).
• Carbon Savings Savings platform offering three products: Cash Vault (up to 20% annual interest on 12-month fixed plans with ₦50,000 minimum), Goals (up to 9.5% interest at maturity, save daily or weekly from ₦100), and FlexSave (up to 9% interest, no minimum, flexible additions). Deposits are NDIC insured.
• Carbon Circles Digital Esusu/Ajo group savings circles allowing users to join community savings groups with random monthly draws, customizable circle values (₦30,000–₦600,000) and monthly contributions from ₦5,000. Carbon covers missing contributions and charges a 5% service fee on contributions. Sharia compliant with insured deposits.
• Pink Passport Debit Card Physical and virtual debit card secured by the Verve payment network, accepted at PoS and ATMs across Nigeria. Includes a loyalty club with cashback, social media giveaways, and up to 10% discounts from featured merchants.
• Carbon Partner API API product enabling third-party platforms and merchants to integrate Carbon's automated merchant financing directly into their own platforms. Features automated data collection with real-time secure data transfer and collaborative loan review through shared Slack channels. Supports merchant loan amounts up to ₦9.5M. Access by request via Google Form; documentation at docs.getcarbon.co.
• Carbon Payments Bill payment and money transfer service supporting airtime, data, cable subscriptions, utilities, and instant fund transfers. Includes up to 30 free transfers monthly and free Carbon-to-Carbon transfers.

Quantifiable outcome

• 10-13% loan loss rates achieved through digital lending crises
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

AI capability5 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Vella FinancecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 14 February 2024Carbon completed the acquisition of Vella Finance, a fintech startup, and launched an AI-powered SME banking platform in Nigeria. This move enhanced Carbon's financial services for SMEs with AI-driven insights, loans, and financial management tools.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• FairMoney: FairMoney is a Nigeria (and France-headquartered) digital lender and microfinance bank offering instant personal loans, business loans and savings to underbanked customers via mobile app — a near-direct competitor to Carbon's core lending and savings products in the same Nigerian market.
• Moniepoint: Moniepoint is a Nigerian fintech providing business banking, POS, payments and credit to SMEs and agents — directly comparable to Carbon Business's SME banking, Flex/Pro accounts and merchant-facing working capital products.
• Renmoney: Renmoney is a Nigerian microfinance institution offering personal loans, salary-backed loans and savings products to individuals and SMEs — closely comparable to Carbon's licensed-MFB model and personal/business lending stack.
• Kuda Bank: Kuda is a Nigerian digital-only neobank (CBN-licensed) offering personal and business accounts, savings, transfers and consumer credit — directly comparable to Carbon's full-stack digital banking offering in Nigeria.
• Branch International: Branch is a US-headquartered digital lender operating across Africa (including Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania) offering instant personal loans via mobile app — comparable to Carbon's digital consumer lending model and underwriting approach.
• Tala: Tala is a US-based digital lender using alternative data underwriting to serve underbanked consumers in emerging markets including Nigeria — closely comparable to Carbon's cashflow and behavioral-data-driven personal loan product.
• TeamApt: TeamApt (now Moniepoint Group) operates Nigerian business banking, payments and lending infrastructure for merchants and SMEs — overlapping with Carbon's business banking, Vendi invoice discounting and merchant-facing credit offerings.

Broad incumbents

• OPay: OPay is a Nigeria-based super-app offering payments, ride-hailing, food delivery and consumer credit at massive scale — a broad incumbent that overlaps with Carbon on digital lending, payments and merchant services but operates across a much wider consumer surface.
• PalmPay: PalmPay is a Nigerian mobile payment and digital financial services platform offering transfers, airtime, savings and consumer credit — overlapping with Carbon's payments and personal loan products as a broader incumbent in Nigerian mobile money.

Emerging players

• M-Kopa: M-Kopa is a Kenya-headquartered digital financial services platform providing pay-as-you-go asset financing, credit and savings to underbanked African consumers — comparable to Carbon's BNPL (Carbon Zero), asset finance and savings products in serving similar unbanked segments across Africa.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/get_carbon
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@CarbonBusinessBank
• Facebookfacebook.com/getcarbon
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/carbonbusinessbank
• Instagraminstagram.com/getcarbonbusiness

Compliance4 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles11 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds4 records

Investors3 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A2 records

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Carbon