Redtech, the Nigerian fintech subsidiary of Tony Elumelu’s Heirs Holdings, has announced it processed $20.6bn (₦30tn) in total transactions during the 2025 financial year.
The figure represents a more than 100% year-on-year increase from the ₦12tn ($8.2bn) processed in 2024. The growth suggests that Redtech is successfully pivoting from a “captive” service provider for the Heirs Holdings ecosystem into a serious contender in Nigeria’s high-volume enterprise payments market.
The Key Numbers
- Total Volume (2025): $20.6bn (₦30tn).
- Growth: >100% YoY.
- Primary Driver: RedPay (POS network, merchant collections, and digital channels).
- Expansion Target: 29 African countries by January 2027.
Moving beyond the “Family” business
Founded in 2020, Redtech initially served as the technical backbone for Heirs Holdings’ diversified interests in banking, insurance, and power. However, the 2025 data indicates the company is now finding significant traction with external SMEs and large-scale enterprises.
While the Nigerian fintech space is notoriously crowded — dominated by players like Moniepoint, OPay, and Flutterwave — Redtech’s strategy appears to lean into the “boring but essential” side of payments: reliability and compliance for regulated sectors.
By focusing on reducing reconciliation failures and downtime — common pain points in Nigerian banking — Redtech is positioning itself as an infrastructure-first player rather than a pure-play consumer app.
The “Unfair Advantage”
Being part of the Heirs Holdings portfolio provides Redtech with a built-in distribution network that many startups lack. The company’s growth has been bolstered by integrations across retail, hospitality, and energy — sectors where its parent company has deep roots.
“This milestone reflects trust from businesses that rely on us to move money at scale,” says Emmanuel Ojo, CEO of Redtech. “We have built Redtech around durability and regulatory alignment so that SMEs and large enterprises can grow on our rails without worrying about downtime.”
The Pan-African Roadmap
Redtech’s ambitions aren’t limited to Lagos. The company has set an aggressive deadline to expand into 29 African countries by early 2027.
This “Pan-African” playbook mirrors the trajectory of United Bank for Africa (UBA), another Heirs Holdings-linked entity. By leveraging these existing banking footprints, Redtech could bypass some of the high customer-acquisition costs (CAC) that typically hamper fintechs entering new markets.
What’s Next?
Redtech hitting the $20bn mark puts it in the “major league” of African processors. However, the next 24 months will be the real test. Moving from a dominant position in Nigeria to a multi-country operation requires navigating 29 different regulatory environments and currency fluctuations.
If Redtech can successfully export its “resilient infrastructure” model to these markets, it won’t just be a service provider for Heirs Holdings; it will be a legitimate challenger to Africa’s fintech “unicorns.”