Onepipe operates a suite of solutions including embedded payments, reconciliation services, and an inventory finance product built on its core APIs. The company says its inventory finance solution—which lets distributors pay for goods so merchants can repay after sales—is its fastest-growing service. Onepipe intends to focus on specific embedded finance use cases, particularly inventory finance for FMCG supply chains. The startup plans to leverage the new capital to expand operations and become a leading provider of financial services to Nigeria’s informal sector. The company cites the large informal sector in Africa as a market opportunity for improving financial access and driving economic development. At the same time, Onepipe is reducing headcount by about 20% and implementing management pay cuts to streamline projects and extend runway amid macroeconomic headwinds. OnePipe is a fintech API company that runs infrastructure enabling embedded finance and banking-as-a-service for non-financial businesses and partner banks. The company originally aimed to build an API gateway for open banking but pivoted to embedded finance after integrations showed limited demand cycles. It currently operates with six partner banks and enables customers to issue accounts, process payments and access credit through its APIs. OnePipe monetizes by taking a percentage cut of transactions and at least 1% of loan interest from lending partners, sharing revenue with partner banks and businesses. In the 10 months since the pivot it processed more than 6.3 million transactions worth over $46.3 million across more than 1 million individual accounts and 138+ businesses. The company plans to deploy capital to deepen its embedded finance offering and expand beyond Nigeria via strategic partnerships (notably with Sendy) into other African markets. OnePipe builds a unified gateway that pools APIs from multiple banks and third-party providers under a common specification to simplify integrations for fintechs and businesses. The product aggregates direct bank APIs and third-party APIs (for example, Mono) rather than relying on robotic process engines. Its revenue model is fee-based: partner banks and institutions charge clients for API access and OnePipe takes a cut. The startup was founded in November 2018 by Ope Adeoye, who previously held multiple product and strategy roles at Interswitch. Since joining Techstars in July 2020, OnePipe has signed partnerships with several banks and fintechs (Polaris, SunTrust, Fidelity, Providus, Migo, Flutterwave, Paystack, Quickteller) and plans to onboard seven more banks. The company intends to use its new funding to push a banking-as-a-service play that lets non-financial institutions help partner banks distribute services to the last mile; it has also signed several unnamed manufacturers, retail, agent, and cooperative networks.

Total raised

$9M

Funding rounds

3

Latest round

Debt Financing

Latest activity

Mar 2023