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Yellow Card, the US-based stablecoin infrastructure company built around Africa and other emerging markets, has closed a $40 million strategic funding round backed by SC Ventures (the innovation and investment arm of Standard Chartered), Sony Innovation Fund, Polychain Capital, Blockchain Capital and other strategic investors.
The round pushes Yellow Card’s total equity financing past $120 million and will use the funding to scale Global USD Accounts while expanding the stablecoin payment rails linking it to markets worldwide.
According to the company, the new capital will help Yellow Card deliver Global USD Accounts to more businesses. The product gives companies a single account to hold US dollars, hold and swap stablecoins, manage treasury, and collect or disburse local currencies across domestic payment rails in more than 50 countries.
The funding will also deepen Yellow Card’s presence in Latin America and Asia-Pacific, building out local payment rails and currency coverage as it pushes beyond its African base. Global USD Accounts are already in use by customers including Visa and Western Union, the company said.
“This investment is a vote of confidence in what we’ve spent years building: the infrastructure that lets global businesses move money without a traditional correspondent banking. But the bigger opportunity now is connecting banks themselves to stablecoin rails,” said Chris Maurice, CEO and co-founder of Yellow Card.
“When institutions plug into this infrastructure, they’re not just modernizing payments, they’re unlocking dollar access for millions of businesses that traditional correspondent banking has left behind. Money should move at the speed and convenience of the internet, and increasingly, banks want to move with it,” he added.
Founded in 2016 by Maurice and Justin Poiroux, who acts as CTO, Yellow Card is the largest and first licensed stablecoin on/off-ramp in Africa. The company now employs more than 200 people across 20 countries and holds licenses, authorisations or registrations in 22 jurisdictions spanning North America, Europe and Africa. It has facilitated over $10 billion in transactions and supports more than 50 currencies, with partnerships spanning Visa, Mastercard, PayPal and Coinbase.
The company was born out of a chance encounter in 2018, when Maurice and Poiroux met a man who had paid a $90 fee to send $200 from America to his family in Nigeria. The founders cite this experience as the spark for building cheaper, stablecoin-based money movement for emerging markets.
“Stablecoins are here to stay, but their adoption will depend on robust infrastructure and clear real-world utility. Yellow Card is building those rails for businesses across Africa, enabling them to access and move value efficiently across markets. We believe YC is well positioned to scale across Africa and beyond and look forward to supporting its next phase of growth,” said Alex Manson, CEO of SC Ventures.
While born to serve people in emerging markets, the company has increasingly pivoted from retail crypto access toward serving businesses. During its $33 million Series C round in October 2024, Maurice explained how thin margins on small retail transactions had led to its pivot to larger, steadier volumes moved by corporate customers.
Despite its pivot to businesses, Yellow Card’s stated ambition is to become the infrastructure layer connecting traditional banks to stablecoin rails, letting money move faster than through legacy banking. With this latest round, the company strengthens its balance sheet to scale its platform and move stablecoin payments from a niche African use case toward mainstream, global payment infrastructure.
