VPay Africa
“Can a bank-transfer-first merchant platform, backed by an in-group microfinance bank, become the operating system for Nigerian SMB commerce and financing?”
Founded2020
HQLagos, Nigeria
FoundersLinda Okore
IndustryFintech / SMB banking
The story
VPay launched in 2020 as a Nigerian merchant bank-transfer acceptance product, riding the ubiquity of NIBSS instant transfers to give SMBs instant payment confirmation without cards. Backed by VFD Microfinance Bank (the regulated entity) and Minerva Technologies (the software company), it has evolved from pure payment acceptance into a broader merchant-finance suite spanning POS terminals, online storefronts, cashier apps, tap-to-pay, developer APIs, and embedded working-capital lending for merchants.
Last 12 months
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Product timeline
0
Launched POS terminals, Storefronts, Cashier, Payment Checkout, and Tap-and-Pay merchant products.· payments
0
Expanded into embedded lending — access to business loans within the merchant dashboard.· lending
2020
VPay founded in Lagos as a merchant bank-transfer payments product powered by VFD Microfinance Bank and Minerva Technologies.· banking
Regulated entities
1
regulatory licence held by VPay Africa
Licence types, jurisdictions and registered entities are in the Embedded Finance Index report.
The stack
4 layers disclosed in VPay Africa’s embedded-finance stack
Payments / PSP
VPay Payment Checkout (self-operated)VPay POS Terminal (self-operated)VPay Tap and Pay (self-operated)VPay Scan to Pay (self-operated)VPay Storefronts (self-operated)
Banking / BaaS
in the full report
Lending
in the full report
Sponsor bank
in the full report
Accounting gap: significant
4 more providers across 3 layers, with confidence-scored evidence and source URLs, are in the Embedded Finance Index report.