Editor’s note: African-Startups is a sister publication of EU-Startups, bringing trusted coverage of startups, venture capital, and innovation across Africa.
Kenya-based Cloud9, a FinTech offering digital banking and cross-border payments to African consumers and businesses, has received investment from Alliance, an accelerator and fund for crypto and FinTech startups.
The Kenyan company has reportedly raised around $500k, bringing its total funding to $1 million.
Kenyan businesses import over $20 billion in goods annually, mainly from China, Dubai, and India. The payment process is slow and expensive; banks can take up to two weeks to open accounts and several days to complete wire transfers.
While informal agents can speed things up, they lack proper records and protection. Additionally, mobile money, used for most daily transactions in Kenya, cannot be used for cross-border payments.
“Kenya already skipped the bank branch once. Mobile money became how the country pays for almost everything, but only within its borders. With Cloud9, a merchant in Nairobi should be able to pay a supplier in Guangzhou as easily as they pay a vendor down the street. Where an entrepreneur is based should not limit who they can buy from or sell to,” said Tesh Mbaabu, Founder and CEO of Cloud9.
Founded and led by Tesh Mbaabu, Cloud9 builds financial products for young consumers and businesses in Africa. Cloud9 is built on stablecoin rails and gives users a single phone-based account to hold, send, receive, save and invest money.
Users can hold Kenyan shillings, US dollars, euros, pounds and yuan, pay suppliers in more than 100 countries within minutes, and receive payments from overseas clients through dedicated virtual accounts. They can also cash out mobile money.
According to the company, businesses can run payroll, bulk payments and team approvals from one dashboard, while Cloud9 Wealth offers savings vaults and access to global stock markets.
The company aims to make financial tools easier to access so individuals can grow their savings, businesses can scale, and communities can take part in global markets through one platform.
Cloud9 went live in early 2026. It has since passed 25,000 accounts, and its transaction volume is growing by more than 15% week over week.
The company will use the new funding to expand its cross-border payment corridors and improve the product experience. It will also launch virtual and physical cards and grow the number of African consumers and businesses using the app for global trade.
“Stablecoins are becoming the settlement layer for global trade, and Africa is where that shift matters most. Tesh has built for African merchants at scale before, and Cloud9 is turning stablecoin rails into an everyday bank account for the entrepreneurs who need it most,” said, Imran Khan, General Partner at Alliance.
Alliance is an early-stage investor and founder community. It gives selected startups funding, structured mentorship and access to a network of crypto-native investors and builders.
The funding announcement comes around five months after acquiring digital ticketing platform MTickets to reshape how event organisers across Africa access capital and how consumers pay for live experiences.
