YC-backed fintech Moni has officially rebranded as Rank, changing its strategy and vision.
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.
