FairMoney is a Nigerian credit-led neobank that began as an online lender providing instant loans and bill payments. Founded in 2017 by Laurin Hainy, Matthieu Gendreau, and Nicolas Berthozat, the company has obtained a microfinance bank (MFB) license enabling it to open current accounts. It reported disbursing $93 million in loan volume in 2020 to over 1.3 million users (more than 6.5 million loan applications) and currently has about 3.5 million registered users, including 1.3 million unique bank account holders. FairMoney offers individual loans from ₦1,500 to ₦500,000 for durations from days to six months and is expanding into SME loans, debit cards, savings, stock trading and potential crypto products. The company is doubling down on Nigeria and India—having processed over 500,000 loan applications from more than 100,000 users in India—and projects $300 million in loan disbursements this year. To finance growth it has used capital markets activity, attracting investment banks to its unlisted bond, and is hiring globally with roughly 150 open positions. FairMoney is a fintech startup that began by offering mobile microcredit in Nigeria via an app that evaluates applicants using financial data, geolocation, and phone signals to deliver near-instant loans. On average borrowers take roughly $33 and reliable customers can access up to about $415. The company uses traditional bank transfers to disburse loans within minutes and supports repayments via partner bank tellers, bank transfers, or SMS. FairMoney holds a lending license in Nigeria and plans to expand beyond lending into current accounts, savings, and payments by partnering with microfinance institutions. It aims to obtain its own microfinance license from the central bank and is developing an SMS interface to serve users without smartphones. Interest terms vary by tenure and risk; an update in the article notes monthly EIRs of 10%–28% and APRs ranging roughly 120%–260%.

Total raised

$53M

Funding rounds

2

Latest round

Series B

Latest activity

Jul 2021