Nigerian FinTech Vella Finance Launches SME Platform
Nigerian FinTech Vella Finance has launched a new user interface and new products as part of a platform that helps streamline cross-border payments for small and medium-sized business (SME) owners in Africa.
Vella 2.0 bridges TradFi with DeFi and cryptocurrency rails to provide these owners of SMEs with alternative payment solutions, Vella Finance said in a press release sent to PYMNTS on Friday (October 7).
“Our long-term goal at Vella is to become the payment partner of choice for 80% of businesses originating from Africa,” Vella Finance Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer Tolu Adedayo said in the release.
The solutions offered by Vella include Global Pay, which helps businesses send money to partners in 80 countries; Vella Boost, which helps businesses invest cash flow that would otherwise be idle; and Fintech-as-a-Service (FaaS), which helps companies become crypto-enabled to manage embedded finance, cards, wallets and payments, according to the release.
“Vellas’ sweet spot is our ability to layer mainstream traditional finance that businesses are already familiar with on top of crypto infrastructure,” Vella Finance CEO Mark Afolabi said in the release. “We were first merchants, then small businesses; we share first-hand experience from a small business perspective.”
As PYMNTS reported in March, SMEs and entrepreneurs play a critical role in the overall development of most economies, especially in emerging regions such as Africa.
Read more: Tailor-made payment solutions unlock growth for the underserved self-employed segment in Africa
In fact, the percentage of adult entrepreneurs of working age was found to be higher in Africa than in any other continent in the world, according to findings from a research study on African entrepreneurs published by the Tony Elumelu Foundation in collaboration with Stanford University.
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A PYMNTS survey of 2,124 US consumers shows that while two-thirds of consumers have used FinTechs for some aspect of banking, only 9.3% call them their primary bank.
