NIGERIA – One Finance Limited [OneFi], the parent company of online lending platform, PayLater has acquired Nigerian payments solution Amplify for an undisclosed amount.

OneFi will take over Amplify’s IP, team, and client network of over 1000 merchants to which Amplify provides payment processing services.

It will also take over Amplify’s assets, trademark and flagship products, AmplifyPay and mTransfers to its growing portfolio.

The move comes barely two weeks after OneFi raised US$5 million in debt funding led by UK based peer-to-peer lending platform Lendable.

The deal further boosts its financial services offering and with Amplify, it will be able to make PayLater transform to a one-stop-shop offering additional products such as savings, bill payments and credit reporting.

“Today’s announcement signals OneFi’s first acquisition; a strategic decision that kicks off our transformation from a digital lender to a diverse digital financial services platform focused on transactions, payments and loans and will ensure we meet our ambitious goal of doubling our size in Nigeria this year,” said Chijioke Dozie, OneFi founder and chief executive officer (CEO).

“We have long respected the Amplify team for their ability to provide innovative solutions under adverse conditions, and we look forward to blending our expertise to power the future of fintech infrastructure and digital payments in Africa.”

Amplify was launched in 2015 by Segun Adeyemi and Maxwell Obi and has become one of Nigeria’s leading online recurring payment processors, supporting over 1,000 merchants and facilitating digital transactions for four of the country’s largest banks.

Following the acquisition, Obi will join the OneFi team to oversee the payments direction of the company, whilst Adeyemi will depart to pursue new ventures.

“The key factor which stood out in our decision to work with OneFi was that we saw them as an extension of our vision,” said Obi.

“We stepped into this industry to use our payment solutions to facilitate a growing economy, and OneFi’s focus on financial inclusion feeds well into this.

It’s a real example of a collaborative effort, and I’m excited to see the next chapter of our development.”

Amplify also payments on social media platforms, something that OneFi CEO Dozie said has differentiated it from some of its Nigerian competitors such as Paystack and Flutterwave.

With the Amplify acquisition and pivot to broad-based online banking services in Nigeria, OneFi sets itself up to manoeuvre competitively across Africa’s massive fintech space.