Acquisition
Jan 2023Aella completed the acquisition of Flourish Microfinance Bank, which expanded its reach and set up the 2024 rebrand to Aella Microfinance Bank.
SourceDiversified credit infrastructure powering payments across Africa.
Company research
Public company, workplace, funding, and market signals
Overview
Aella is a licensed Nigerian digital banking and microfinance platform (Aella Microfinance Bank / Aella App) that combines personal and business banking, credit/lending, payments, savings, cards, and merchant/API infrastructure for underbanked users and SMEs across Africa.
Primary product
Aella app / digital banking platform
Founded
2015
Headquarters
88 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA 94105, USA
Team size
40-50
Work style
Flexible
Industry
Financial Services
Sub-industry
Digital banking and microfinance
Offices
88 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA 94105 (HQ)
San Francisco, California, United States
13 Lawani Oduloye Road, Lagos, Lagos State, Nigeria
Business model
consumer banking
business banking
consumer lending
payments processing
banking-as-a-service / APIs
microfinance
Funding
Stage
debt financing
Latest round
Debt Financing · Feb 2020
Latest amount
$10M
People & investors
Leadership
Founder & Group CEO
Director
Kay I. Jegede
Director
Oluwatosin Abimbola-Owolabi
Head, Accounts
Adetunji Adeshina
Head of Internal Control and Audit
Kudolo Giftmary
Customer Success Lead
Head of Product Management
Head of Legal Compliance
Founders
Co-Founder & CTO
Work & culture
Public postings describe a result-oriented, dependable, non-conformist team with a positive mindset. The company also emphasizes collaboration, innovation, excellence, inclusion, ownership, and continuous learning.
Work style
Flexible
Compensation
Public career pages say Aella offers competitive compensation packages; job posts also highlight health insurance, learning stipends, and generous PTO. No public salary bands were found.
Benefits
comprehensive health insurance
flexible work hours
remote work options
Lunch on Us
learning and development opportunities
learning stipends
generous PTO
Product & market
Pricing
Consumer app monetized through lending/interest, payments, and financial services; business/API offerings appear to be merchant or enterprise priced, but public rate cards were not found.
Differentiators
- —CBN-licensed microfinance bank with NDIC-insured deposits
- —single platform for personal banking, business banking, credit, cards, savings, and payments
- —banking-as-a-service / merchant APIs for wallets, payouts, mandates, identity, loans, and bills
- —debt-as-a-service model for agency lenders and SME operations
- —BVN/NIN and biometric identity verification infrastructure
- —2M+ user base and Africa-focused financial inclusion positioning
Technology
React
TypeScript
Next.js
GraphQL
AWS EC2
AWS RDS for MySQL
AWS S3
Amazon Rekognition
API webhooks
BVN/NIN identity verification
Customers
underbanked consumers
small and medium-sized businesses
merchants
agency banks / agents
fintech and developer partners
borrowers seeking personal loans
Competitors
Social Lender
Kashbase
ArvoFinance
Celeris Credit
Kyte Capital
Apenia
Scale & contact
Signals & risks
Latest news
Aella LinkedIn · Jul 2026
Aella promoted its business banking suite as an operating system with payroll, bulk payouts, invoicing, payment collections, POS, identity verification, and APIs.
Aella LinkedIn · Mar 2026
Aella announced a unified platform for payroll, payments, compliance, and operations for Nigerian SMEs.
Disrupt Africa · Apr 2024
Disrupt Africa reported the rebrand and noted Aella’s focus on innovation, inclusive finance, and user protections.
TechCabal · Mar 2024
TechCabal covered Aella’s rebrand from Aella Credit to Aella Microfinance Bank and linked it to the acquisition of Flourish MFB.
Business Post Nigeria · Jan 2021
Business Post covered Aella’s AWS identity-verification collaboration using Amazon Rekognition, tied to faster credit approvals and reduced verification errors.
Jobs and careers at Aella
0 jobs at Aella
No open positions
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