Carrot Credit, a Nigerian fintech startup, has raised $4.2 million in seed funding to scale its alternative lending platform, which allows users to borrow against their digital investment portfolios without having to sell their assets.

The round was led by MaC Venture Capital, with participation from Authentic Ventures, and underscores growing investor interest in new credit models for underserved markets.

Founded in 2023 by Boluwatife Aiki-Raji, Carrot Credit is pioneering a digital collateral model for credit access in Africa. Instead of traditional credit scores, the platform assesses users’ digital investment holdings such as stocks, ETFs, and government bonds—to determine how much they can borrow.

Users can access:

Through API integrations, Carrot secures a lien on these assets, ensuring users retain ownership while leveraging their value. “People were investing in all types of things like stocks, crypto, fixed income but many didn’t recognise those investments as worth anything,” said CEO Aiki-Raji. “That was the initial idea: why can’t this be collateral?”

Carrot offers a range of flexible repayment plans, including fixed 3, 6, or 12-month terms and adjustable monthly payments. Its interest rates are below market average, giving it a competitive edge over many Nigerian digital lenders.

Revenue is primarily driven by these interest payments making Carrot sustainable without overburdening borrowers.

Carrot’s B2B2C model means its lending service is embedded directly into fintech apps, brokerages, and digital wealth platforms. This helps integrate its offerings seamlessly into users’ financial ecosystems, ensuring wider credit access for digitally active Africans.

To date, the startup has disbursed over $2 million in loans to more than 10,000 users.

Marlon Nichols, co-founder and managing partner at MaC Venture Capital, said:

“What excites me about this investment is how Carrot is leveraging digital assets to create a seamless, low-barrier credit solution in markets where credit has traditionally been out of reach.”

With this fresh funding, Carrot Credit plans to expand its reach across Africa, improve its product offering, and deepen integrations with fintech and investment platforms.

As digital investing becomes more mainstream in Africa, Carrot Credit’s innovative use of investment portfolios as loan collateral could redefine how credit is accessed making borrowing more inclusive, flexible, and digitally aligned.