E-Financial
Nigerian Fintech Secures $1.7mn Financing Round “to Bet on African SMEs”
Brass, a Nigerian digital bank delivering easy access to affordable premium banking services for small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs), has today secured $1.7mn in funding to address the heavily underserved banking needs of local entrepreneurs, traders and fast-growing businesses.
The financing round sees participation from Olugbenga ‘GB’ Agboola (Co-Founder of Flutterwave), Ezra Olubi (Co-Founder of Paystack, acquired by Stripe), Hustle Fund, Acuity Ventures, Uncovered Fund and Ventures Platform.
The new funding will play a key role in accelerating Brass’ expansion into South Africa and Kenya – just a year after launch, and will kickstart a range of new product categories, including an expansion of the startup’s footprint in the credit market as it bids to diversify its customer range.
Launched in July 2020 by Sola Akindolu (previously Head of Product at Kudi) and Emmanuel Okeke (a former Engineering Manager at Paystack), Brass equips SMEs with a full-stack, commercial-grade banking service across various business classes, enabling them to gain greater clarity and control over their money operations and the power to scale their enterprises.
The platform currently boasts a comprehensive suite of products tailored to a wide spectrum of business banking needs, including credit & payment services, payroll and expense management, API support and a host of additional core business services.
To-date, Brass has served thousands of businesses, disbursed over $2mn in credit and recently launched Brass Capital – a cash-flow financing service to support even more fast-growing businesses.
Many of Brass’ clients use the platform as their default money operation service provider and its current customer base includes the likes of Send.ng, Mono and Eden as well as restaurants, schools and malls. The platform has also partnered with Flutterwave to drive its expansion plans across Africa.
Commenting on the fundraise, Sola Akindolu, Co-Founder and CEO of Brass, says, “The basic needs of Africa’s SMEs are just as significant and unique as those of the customers they serve each day and now more than ever, we need innovative and world-class financial services solutions that meet their expectations. These local businesses have supported our economies for decades, forming the backbone of Africa’s success to-date and now is the time to bet on them.”
“At Brass, we’ve made some great strides over the last year in tackling one of Africa’s most critically underserved customer bases but with an estimated $5.1tn credit gap globally, our work is far from over.
This is why we’re delighted to welcome onboard a number of vastly-experienced and strategic investors, whose expertise will not only play a vital role ahead of our expansion into South Africa and Kenya, but also in our future ambitions outside of the continent.”
Currently, SMEs form 99% of all Nigerian businesses however, many of them encounter the same major roadblock that has resulted in 55% – 68% of formal SMEs in emerging markets being underserved by financial institutions – a severe lack of access to affordable, high-quality and uniquely tailored financial services.
As a result, these businesses are mainly limited to expensive and often ineffectual traditional banking services or they simply remain unbanked due to access and cost.
This has not only led to an estimated $5.1tn credit gap for SMEs in Nigeria and other emerging economies, but also a huge lack of resources for these companies to fully understand their financial operations and make critical business decisions.
Kola Aina, Founder and General Partner at Ventures Platform, says “We were immediately sold on Brass’s mission to make banking work for small businesses. For far too long banks have not worked for their customers.
This challenge is even more chronic for small businesses, hence we are excited to be a Brass partner as they advance the mission to make banking work for African businesses – via their suite of products designed to help businesses succeed.”
Elizabeth Yin, General Partner at Hustle Fund adds “We are excited to back Sola, and the Brass team who are providing critical financial technology to Africa’s businesses, starting with Nigeria’s ~41.5 million businesses.
We believe Africa’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, and fintech sector is witnessing an unprecedented shift, and Brass is at the forefront of that, supporting local businesses and professionals with banking technology to supercharge their growth. We are excited by their vision, and honoured to be joining them on their journey.”
Brass’ previous investment to-date has featured a number of seasoned angel investors in the African tech space including Olumide Soyombo of Voltron Capital, Leonard Stiegeler, Fola Olatunji-David, Yemi Lawani and two senior executives from top Nigerian banks.
Currently, access to comprehensive banking solutions services remains one of the most significant constraints for SMEs in Africa as it is estimated that the continent’s formal SME sector has an annual financing gap of over US $136 billion.
According to the World Bank, these businesses employ 80% of Africa’s population, highlighting their importance to the local economy and further underlining their need for additional support.
Lexi Novitske, Managing Partner at Acuity Ventures, closes “The real market opportunity in digital banking in Africa is enabling small businesses. These businesses are looking for tools to responsibly scale; with a Brass partnership they’re able to grow alongside a committed partner for the long term.
Meanwhile, data sources in Africa are still nascent. Brass’s suite of products including payments and dashboard services not only give small local businesses transparency and efficiency over their operations, but enable Brass to provide banking products that meet the needs of these customers at lower risk.”
Flutterwave has distanced itself from reports claiming the federal government has approved a $75 million investment in the company as a precursor to a public listing.
In a statement, Flutterwave dismissed the reports as “inaccurate,” specifically refuting claims that it is on the verge of a $250 million Initial Public Offering (IPO).
The denial follows a flurry of local media reports on Monday, sparked in part by a now-deleted social media post from a special assistant to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Flutterwave has said it has no knowledge of a reported $75 million investment by Nigeria’s federal government, pushing back against local media reports that suggested the deal had been approved as part of the company’s path toward a public listing.
Earlier reports on Monday, including a now-deleted tweet from a special assistant to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, stated that the president had authorised an investment of $75 million in the payments company through the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MoFI).
Flutterwave’s spokesperson clarified the company’s position stating that, “Flutterwave is not in any way close to an IPO, and they have made no announcements regarding a listing or fundraising tied to an IPO as described.”
The confusion highlights the intense scrutiny surrounding the unicorn, which was valued at over $3 billion during its 2022 funding round.
While Flutterwave has long been touted as the torchbearer for African tech on the global public stage, the company appears to have pivoted toward a more conservative timeline.
The reports also indicated that the startup was preparing to raise up to $250 million in an initial public offering.
CitiTrust Financial Services Limited, the parent company of Osun-partly owned LivingTrust Mortgage Bank, has approached the Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos, following the company’s conviction at the Federal High Court, Lagos, over alleged fraud and illegal financial operations.
CitiTrust, is challenging the conviction and asset forfeiture order handed down by the Court in the case brought the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
EFCC accused it of money laundering, illegal financial operations, and operating a Ponzi scheme.
Federal High Court, had ordered the forfeiture of the firm’s assets to the federal government of Nigeria, citing evidence of unlawful financial activities.
CitiTrust is fighting back according to the hearing notice No. CA/L/571/2025, issued on April 15, 2026, the appeal against the federal government, will be heard at the Court of Appeal complex in Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos.
The matter, listed before Court 1, will first address a motion by the appellants seeking leave to file their appeal out of time.
Oyetola Muyiwa Atoyebi (SAN), counsel to the appellants, in a motion dated September 23, 2025, argued that procedural delays necessitated the application.
He explained that although the Record of Appeal was transmitted on May 26, 2025, the defence could not file its Brief of Argument within the stipulated 45 days due to time constraints and competing professional obligations.
Atoyebi further noted that the appellants’ brief exceeds the 35-page limit prescribed under the Court of Appeal Rules, 2021, by three pages, requiring the court’s permission for its adoption.
The appellants are therefore seeking the leave of the court to file and serve their Brief of Argument out of time, an order extending the time for filing, and an order deeming the already filed brief as properly filed.
The EFCC had earlier secured a conviction against CitiTrust and its subsidiaries, CitiTrust Asset Management Limited and CitiTrust Holding Plc, over alleged fraudulent financial operations.
It would be recalled that in a ruling delivered by Justice Friday Nemakonam Ogazi of the Federal High Court, Lagos, the judge held that there was overwhelming evidence linking the firms to unlawful activities.
The court found that one of the entities was not duly registered with regulatory authorities, including the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), describing the operations as illegal despite corporate registration.
Relying on Section 12 of the Proceeds of Crime (Recovery and Management) Act, 2022, the court ruled that the EFCC had established, on a balance of probabilities, that the assets were proceeds of unlawful activity.
Justice Ogazi also invoked provisions of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act and the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA), holding that the corporate veil could be lifted where fraud is alleged.
“The law is that when issues of fraud arise, the corporate veil must be lifted. Statutory provisions cannot be used as a refuge to justify illegality,” the court held.
The court subsequently ordered the final forfeiture of CitiTrust-linked assets, forfeiture of shares held in LivingTrust Mortgage Bank Plc, compensation of investors from recovered funds, and transfer of any balance to the Federal Government.
The anti-graft agency had also declared some executive directors of the firm wanted, alleging that they are currently on the run.
Federal court in Lagos has suspended the enforcement of Nigeria’s most comprehensive framework for regulating digital lending apps.
On April 15, Justice Ambrose Lewis-Allagoa of the Federal High Court in Lagos granted an interim injunction blocking the enforcement of the Digital, Electronic, Online, or Non-Traditional Consumer Lending Regulations 2025, better known as the DEON Regulations.
The order followed an urgent ex parte application filed the previous day by the Wireless Application Service Providers Association of Nigeria (WASPA Nigeria), the industry body representing wireless application service providers operating mainly within the telecoms ecosystem.
The suit targets twelve specific provisions of the text, covering licensing, sanctions, compliance obligations and data-handling rules, according to court documentation published by Lawyard.
Until the next hearing on April 27, 2026, the regulator cannot impose sanctions, enforce compliance directives, or issue new instructions to WASPA members.
The judge also barred the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) from interfering with the ongoing commercial operations of association members.
The case pits two actors whose respective mandates the Nigerian legal framework has never clearly separated.
On one side stands the FCCPC — the federal agency established in 2018 to enforce consumer protection and competition — which gazetted the DEON Regulations on July 21, 2025, under sections 17, 18 and 163 of its founding Act.
In a press statement dated September 3, 2025, Tunji Bello, executive vice chairman, FCCPC, justified the rules by citing “a long history of complaints” involving exploitative practices, data breaches, abusive debt recovery, and harassment.
On the other side, WASPA Nigeria contests the very legitimacy of the FCCPC’s intervention, arguing that services tied to telecoms — airtime credit, data loans, mobile-financing products — fall exclusively under the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the telecoms regulator created by the Nigerian Communications Act of 2003.
In the affidavit deposed by Ayo Stuffman, the association contends that the FCCPC is acting ultra vires and creating a regulatory regime parallel to the NCC’s.
A jurisdictional war that stretches far beyond a procedural dispute
The conflict is not limited to a question of legal boundaries. It strikes at the commercial core of the market: who collects the licensing fees, who sets the operational conditions, who governs the financial products embedded in telecom networks.
Nigeria’s consumer credit stock reached 3.82 trillion naira at the end of December 2024, up 21.27% on September, according to Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) data relayed by The Cable and AFP.
In the fourth quarter of 2024 alone, personal loans disbursed amounted to approximately 470 billion naira.
A growing share flows through mobile applications and telecom-embedded lending products — including MTN’s MoMo Airtime Lending, operated by the country’s largest telecom operator.
If the court validates WASPA’s position, these products fall outside the FCCPC’s scope and come under the sole authority of the NCC, a regulator historically less active on consumer protection issues.
Available data on demand illustrate the social stakes. Between 2021 and 2023, the FCCPC recorded more than 11,000 consumer complaints for harassment, data abuse and unethical debt recovery practices, according to the agency.
The number of lending applications approved by the FCCPC rose from 269 in September 2024 to 408 in March 2025, while 47 apps were delisted and 88 were placed on the watchlist, according to data compiled by AFP and OneSafe.
The DEON Regulations were meant to introduce interest-rate caps, precontractual disclosure obligations, continuous supervision of recovery practices and fines of up to 100 million naira per violation, according to Legit.ng. The compliance deadline was set for January 5, 2026, and the FCCPC had issued written compliance notices to operators with an April 16 deadline, according to WASPA’s affidavit.
It is precisely this enforcement pressure that triggered the legal challenge.
Nnaji, Former Minister Seeks Out-of-court Settlement over Certificate Forgery Allegations
Nigeria @ Risks Losing Digital Control- NiRA
CIBN Allegedly Hit by 250GB Data Breach
NUJ Accuses NBC of Attempting to Gag Media, Demands Dialogue
BOI, RMRDC Seal MoU to Address Agric Value Chain Challenges, Boost Nigeria’s GDP
NBC Boss Urges Content Ceators to Participate in DSO
NITDA Takes Over National Digital Architecture System
DLM SPV PLC Lists ₦9.00bn AAA-Rated Medium-Term Notes on FMDQ Exchange, Sets Benchmark in Corporate Bond Market
FG Shifting Focus to “Meaningful Connectivity” to Drive Inclusion – Minister
Jury Finds Meta, Google Liable for Woman’s Social Media Addiction
E-Business1 day agoLagos Unveils Cybersecurity Guidelines to Tackle Rising Digital Threats
Telecom1 day agoNBC Warns Broadcasters Against Bullying Guests, Passing Opinions as Facts
E-Financial1 day agoCitiTrust Heads to Appeal Court over Alleged Ponzi Scheme
Telecom1 day agoTech Shake-Up: Snap Cuts Hundreds as AI Drives Efficiency Push
News1 day agoFG Borrows N100Bn from Unclaimed Dividends, Dormant Bank Accounts
Telecom1 day agoWATRA Secretary sees Resilience as a Critical Link in West Africa’s Digital Economy
Telecom1 day agoWhy Nigeria Must Embrace .ng Now – NiRA Reveals Five Critical Steps
News1 day agoFG Carpets W/Bank, Denies Alleged Diversion of Federation Revenue