Sparkle
“Can a self-licensed Nigerian neobank become the financial and operational OS for retail consumers and SMEs at once?”
Founded2019
HQLagos, Nigeria
FoundersUzoma Dozie
Total raised$3.1M+ (disclosed)
Latest roundSeed, 2021
IndustryFintech / Neobank
The story
Founded by former Diamond Bank GMD Uzoma Dozie, Sparkle launched in 2019 as a Nigerian digital-only microfinance bank targeting both retail consumers and SMEs. Rather than relying on BaaS infrastructure, Sparkle obtained its own CBN microfinance bank license, making it a self-operated neobank. It has since expanded beyond accounts and payments into adjacent SME services — business registration (CAC/TIN), invoicing, inventory, payroll, tax remittance and lending — positioning itself as a full lifestyle-and-business financial ecosystem rather than a single-product app.
Last 12 months
—
Product timeline
2019
Sparkle launches in Q4 2019 as a digital-only microfinance bank licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria.· banking
2021
Closes $3.1M seed round to scale personal and business neobank operations.· funding
2024
Sparkle Business expands with CAC/TIN registration, invoicing, inventory, payroll and tax remittance features for SMEs.· banking
Regulated entities
1
regulatory licence held by Sparkle
Licence types, jurisdictions and registered entities are in the Embedded Finance Index report.
The stack
6 layers disclosed in Sparkle’s embedded-finance stack
Payments / PSP
Sparkle Payments (self-operated)
Banking / BaaS
in the full report
Card issuing
in the full report
Lending
in the full report
Payroll
in the full report
Sponsor bank
in the full report
Accounting gap: significant
6 more providers across 5 layers, with confidence-scored evidence and source URLs, are in the Embedded Finance Index report.