Kenyan fintech Cloud9 has secured a $500,000 equity investment from Alliance, a New York-based crypto accelerator and founder community, as the company seeks to expand its financial services for African businesses operating across borders.
The investment forms part of Cloud9’s ongoing pre-seed funding round, which has also attracted backing from Techstars NYC and strategic angel investors. The latest investment brings Cloud9’s total funding to $1 million.
From Digital Banking to Cross-Border Payments
Cloud9 is shifting its focus beyond traditional digital banking as it builds infrastructure designed to help African businesses send, receive and manage money internationally.
The company intends to use the fresh capital to expand its cross-border payment corridors, improve its platform, introduce virtual and physical cards and increase the number of consumers and businesses using its services to participate in global trade.
Founder and CEO Tesh Mbaabu said the company wants to remove geographical limitations that make international transactions more difficult for African entrepreneurs.
Cloud9 Reports Rapid Early Growth
Cloud9 launched its product in early 2026 and says it has already created more than 25,000 accounts.
According to the fintech, transaction volumes have been increasing by more than 15% week over week, highlighting what the company sees as growing demand for easier financial services among businesses engaged in international trade.
Mbaabu said Kenya had already demonstrated how quickly financial behaviour can change through mobile money, but argued that international payments remain significantly more difficult.
Multi-Currency Accounts and Global Payments
The platform allows customers to hold multiple currencies, including Kenyan shillings, US dollars, euros, British pounds and Chinese yuan.
Businesses can send payments to suppliers in more than 100 countries and receive international payments through virtual accounts. Customers can also withdraw funds into mobile money when they need to convert their international balances into local currency.
Cloud9 additionally provides business tools covering payroll, bulk payments and team approval processes.
Its Cloud9 Wealth offering gives Kenyan customers access to savings vaults and global stock markets, expanding the platform beyond payments and business banking.
Stablecoins Power the Settlement Layer
Stablecoins form an important part of Cloud9’s cross-border infrastructure.
Customers can initiate payments using currencies such as dollars, euros or Kenyan shillings, while Cloud9 uses USDC or USDT behind the scenes to transfer value between countries and currencies.
The company argues that this approach can make international transfers faster and cheaper than traditional correspondent banking while allowing it to establish new payment corridors without requiring a bank in every market.
Alliance general partner Imran Khan said stablecoins were increasingly becoming part of the infrastructure supporting international commerce, particularly in markets where conventional cross-border banking remains expensive or difficult to access.
Expanding Into More African Markets
Cloud9 says its treasury operations cover more than 120 countries, while its payment network supports direct payments to Mainland China, Hong Kong, India and Southeast Asia.
The network also supports intra-African collections and local-currency disbursements.
The company’s strategy is closely tied to the growing volume of African businesses participating in global trade. Kenya’s imports from China alone were valued at $4.31 billion in 2024, illustrating the scale of commercial activity between the two markets.
Two Acquisitions in Three Months
Cloud9 has also been expanding through acquisitions as it builds a broader financial ecosystem.
In August, the fintech acquired social-commerce platform Chpter in an undisclosed all-stock transaction. The deal came only months after Cloud9 acquired Kenyan ticketing company M-Tickets in May for approximately KES 100 million, or about $773,000, in another all-stock transaction.
The acquisitions give Cloud9 access to businesses at different stages of their commercial activity.
M-Tickets provides exposure to event organisers and consumer spending, while Chpter connects Cloud9 with businesses selling and communicating with customers through platforms such as WhatsApp and Instagram.
Founders Bring Experience From Chpter
Mbaabu and Mesongo Sibuti launched Cloud9 in October 2025 after leaving Chpter, where they had been co-founders.
The pair joined Chpter in early 2024 to help accelerate the social-commerce company’s growth before stepping away from day-to-day operations in September 2025.
Their previous experience in building digital commerce infrastructure now forms part of Cloud9’s strategy to combine payments, commerce and financial services on a single platform.
Cloud9 Faces Strong Competition
Despite its ambitions, Cloud9 is entering a highly competitive Kenyan financial technology market.
Safaricom’s M-Pesa remains deeply embedded in everyday payments, while companies including Pesapal, Flutterwave and Wise offer various payment collection, money transfer and cross-border services.
Cloud9 is seeking to distinguish itself by combining multi-currency banking, international payments, wealth services and business tools while embedding financial products into commercial platforms used by its customers.
How Cloud9 Makes Money
The fintech generates revenue through foreign-exchange spreads and transaction fees charged when customers make payments.
It also charges monthly fees on selected multi-currency accounts and wallets.
Cloud9 says it is developing additional products around its business accounts, including virtual and physical cards as well as credit options.
A Broader Financial Platform for African Businesses
Cloud9’s long-term ambition extends beyond providing another digital bank account.
The company wants to build financial infrastructure that allows African entrepreneurs and businesses to participate more easily in international markets, while using its growing network of commercial relationships to introduce additional financial products.
With $1 million now raised and two acquisitions completed within three months, the company is betting that a combination of cross-border payments, stablecoin infrastructure, digital banking and embedded financial services can give African businesses a simpler route into the global economy.
