The Lagos-based startup has moved beyond its roots in community lending to build a regulated financial ecosystem that connects Africa’s informal savings culture with formal banking infrastructure.

The rebrand comes with two key acquisitions, AjoMoney, a digital group-savings platform, and Zazzau Microfinance Bank, which now operates as Rank Microfinance Bank. 

The dual acquisition makes Rank one of the first Nigerian fintechs to merge social trust networks with a regulated framework, enabling it to offer savings, payments, and investment services to communities rather than individuals.

With a Central Bank of Nigeria Tier 2 microfinance licence, Rank can now accept deposits, disburse loans, and offer treasury-backed savings. The company has also integrated with the NIBSS Instant Payment system (NIP), allowing users to send and receive money in real time. 

“We can now go beyond savings to payments,” said Femi Iromini, CEO of Rank. “We can go into investing. And we are seeing the interests already.”

Rank’s first product, a high-yield group savings plan, leverages the power of trusted networks such as traders’ associations and cooperatives. 

In a pilot involving 10,000 participants, the platform delivered over ₦16 billion ($11.25 million) in payouts, with funds invested in treasury bills and money markets generating up to 23% annual returns. 

Participants contributed a minimum of ₦150,000 ($100) each, pooling resources through a system rooted in the familiar “ajo” and “esusu” models of collective savings.

The company’s rebrand from Moni to Rank also aims to digitise Africa’s centuries-old community finance systems and transform them into scalable, wealth-building tools. 

According to Iromini, Rank intends to build beyond savings and loans by introducing payments and investment products that serve the collective strength of communities. 

“We have done the experiment, and we learned a lot,” he said. “There is still more we can do with communities. For instance, we can create products around people being able to make payments together.”

The leadership teams of AjoMoney and Zazzau MFB have now joined Rank, bringing product depth and regulatory experience under one structure.

For Ibrahim Adepoju, CEO of AjoMoney, the partnership represents a natural evolution: “We modernised one of Africa’s oldest financial traditions, rotating savings and credit associations, and brought it into the digital era. Passing this vision to the Rank team is a natural next step.”

Similarly, Mohammed Usman, director at Zazzau Microfinance Bank, said, “The vision of a money app for communities is something that really excites us. We are happy to be part of this journey.”

Rank’s approach distinguishes it from older fintechs like Piggyvest and Cowrywise, which focus on individuals. Instead, Rank is betting on the collective, people who already trust one another and have long practised shared finance. 

“In reality, they are entrusting us with their money,” Iromini said. “Having the right backing when it comes to a license actually helps a lot with that.”

With over ₦67 billion ($46.62 million) in previous loan disbursements and a 96% repayment rate, Rank’s foundation in community trust is solid.

These investments reiterate Visa’s focus on facilitating digital innovation in Africa, driving fintech growth, and enhancing financial inclusion across the continent. 

The four startups, operating across multiple African countries are: 

• Oze, a Ghana-based startup providing digital record-keeping tools and embedded finance products to SMEs. The company helps businesses manage transactions, access affordable capital, and attain growth. Additionally, the startup offers a Loan Management System (LMS) for financial institutions, featuring machine learning-based credit scoring to enhance lending decisions and expand access to credit for MSMEs.
• Workpay, a HR tech firm headquartered in Kenya. The company offers a comprehensive cloud-based payroll and HR platform that manages the entire employee lifecycle, enabling payroll processing, time tracking, employee benefits administration, performance management and Employer of Record services in more than 35 countries across Africa.
• OkHi based in Nigeria, is a smart addressing system that provides digital address verification, enabling businesses to collect, verify, and navigate to accurate addresses, thereby improving delivery efficiency and access to financial services.
• ORDA, a cloud-based restaurant software company digitizing over 1,500 restaurants across Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa with tools for order processing, inventory management, and financial services to optimize operations and fuel growth.

Graduates of the second cohort of the program will have the opportunity to present their innovative capabilities during a Demo Day set to take place on December 2nd in Cape Town, South Africa, to an audience of venture capitalists, angel investors, ecosystem enablers and business partners.

The Visa Africa Fintech Accelerator program – is a three-month intensive program that supports Seed to Series A start-ups by offering 1:1 mentorship, training, and exclusive opportunities for funding and partnership. 

Launched in 2023, it aligns with Visa’s pledge to invest $1 billion in the continent by 2027, helping to uplift and bolster its digital transformation.

Godfrey Sullivan, senior vice president of Products, Partnerships and Digital Solutions for Visa CEMEA, said “These investments mark a substantial step for Visa – we are once again standing behind our commitment to innovation in Africa, helping to shape the future of digital payments alongside some of the brightest fintech minds that the continent has to offer. Visa sees each investment as a unique opportunity to drive financial access and inclusion, and we are proud to support these start-ups as they realize their vision for a more connected Africa.”

Meghan McCormick, chief executive officer at Oze commented: “This investment marks the latest pivotal moment in our journey, enabling us to scale our innovations to continue supporting MSMEs across Africa – something that both we and our shareholders are truly passionate about.”

Timbo Drayson, co-founder and CEO of Okhi commented:  “We are thrilled to welcome Visa onboard as we continue to disrupt the industry and redefine what’s possible through our identity verification solutions. The future is bright, and partnerships like this help us take a step forward toward achieving our vision.”

Guy Futi, co-founder of ORDA commented: “We are proud to have an established payments leader such as Visa be part of our growth journey. We see this investment as a mark of trust in our vision. We look forward to driving innovation together, one order at a time.”

Paul Kimani, co-founder and CEO of WorkPay commented: “We are happy to have Visa in our corner. As a trusted leader in digital payments, Visa’s support pushes us toward our goal of delivering innovative solutions and streamlining backend processes for all.”

Additional investments and commercial partnerships with the program’s graduates are being finalized and will be announced soon.

The Visa Africa Fintech Accelerator program is supported by Amazon Web Services (AWS), which offers free cloud services to cohort participants. 

Companies interested in Africa are invited to join and contribute to developing the next generation of fintech innovators, experiencing the transformative power of these partnerships.