Woven Finance, the fintech startup founded by Trium, a venture group by Coronation Group, is discontinuing its service, according to an email shared with customers on Wednesday morning.
The fintech, which was fully licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in 2022, and has a Payment Solutions Service Provider (PSSP) licence, will transfer its services to Hydrogen, a fintech company owned and run by Access Bank. Becoming part of Hydrogen will help Access Bank compete with GTCO’s fintech, Squad. Kemi Okusanya, a former General Manager at Visa West Africa, leads hydrogen.
“After a thorough analysis of the current market dynamics and their impact on our business model, Woven Finance has resolved to cease its payment services operations in the first quarter of 2024,” Woven Finance said in an email to customers.
Woven Finance Origin story
Woven Finance, which set out to “demystify digital payments,
” was founded in 2020 by Adedeji Olowe. It sold itself to business owners by offering a virtual account with which they could collect payments, eliminating common problems like reconciliation and settlements.
The company’s founder, Olowe, also ran Trium, the technology venture fund for the Coronation Group. The Coronation Group, which includes companies like Coronation Merchant Bank and Coronation Insurance (formerly WAPIC), became part of Access Bank after the acquisition of Intercontinental Bank.
But in 2011, a directive from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) forced banks to divest their non-banking businesses or restructure into holding companies. At the time, Access Bank–which adopted a holding company structure in 2022–chose to spin off the Coronation Group.
While it remains unclear the exact dynamics that led Woven Finance to discontinue operations, one theory is that increasing competition from established fintechs and other bank-led fintechs like Squad, Zest and Hydrogen may have prompted the decision.
*This is a developing story
