Kenyan fintech Cloud9 has secured a $500,000 equity investment from Alliance, a New York-based crypto accelerator and founder community, as the company works to build a cross-border payments network for African businesses.
The investment is part of Cloud9’s ongoing pre-seed round, which has also attracted funding from Techstars NYC and strategic angel investors. The latest investment brings the company’s total funding to $1 million.
Cloud9 launched its product in early 2026 and says it has since opened more than 25,000 accounts, while transaction volume has grown by more than 15% week over week.
The company is now looking beyond digital banking, focusing on the infrastructure needed by African businesses that buy from and sell to customers and suppliers across borders. It plans to use the new capital to expand its payment corridors, improve its product, introduce virtual and physical cards, and grow its customer base across Africa.
“Kenya already skipped the bank branch once. Mobile money became how the country pays for almost everything, but only within its borders,” said Tesh Mbaabu, Cloud9’s founder and CEO. “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.”
Cloud9 allows customers to hold multiple currencies, including Kenyan shillings, US dollars, euros, pounds and Chinese yuan. Businesses can send payments to suppliers in more than 100 countries, receive international payments through virtual accounts and withdraw funds into mobile money when they need local currency.
For businesses, the platform also provides payroll, bulk payments and team approval tools. Its Cloud9 Wealth product gives Kenyan users access to savings vaults and global stock markets.
The company 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, alongside intra-African collections and local-currency disbursements.
Stablecoins are central to how Cloud9 handles some of these international transactions. Customers can initiate payments in currencies such as dollars, euros or Kenyan shillings, while Cloud9 uses USDC or USDT behind the scenes to move value between countries and currencies.
“Stablecoins are becoming the settlement layer for global trade, and Africa is where that shift matters most,” said Imran Khan, general partner at Alliance. “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.”
The fintech has also been expanding through acquisitions. In August, Cloud9 acquired social commerce platform Chpter in an undisclosed all-stock deal, its second acquisition in three months.
Earlier in May, it acquired Kenyan ticketing platform M-Tickets for about KES 100 million ($773,000), also in an all-stock transaction.
The acquisitions give Cloud9 access to businesses at different stages of the customer journey. M-Tickets connects the company to event organisers and consumer spending, while Chpter brings businesses that sell and communicate with customers through platforms such as WhatsApp and Instagram.
Cloud9’s strategy is to build financial services around those existing business relationships, rather than operate solely as a standalone banking product.
Mbaabu and Mesongo Sibuti launched Cloud9 in October 2025, shortly after leaving Chpter, where they were co-founders. The pair had joined Chpter in early 2024 to help scale the social-commerce company before stepping away from its day-to-day operations in September 2025.
Cloud9 is entering a crowded Kenyan payments market, where Safaricom’s M-Pesa remains deeply embedded in everyday transactions. Other players, including Pesapal, Flutterwave and Wise, also offer payment and cross-border services to businesses.
The company makes money primarily through foreign-exchange spreads and transaction fees. It also charges monthly fees on some multi-currency accounts and wallets, with plans to add more products around its business accounts, including cards and credit.
For Cloud9, the broader goal is to make international trade easier for African businesses by putting banking, payments and other financial tools in one platform.
“Cloud9’s mission is to simplify, democratise, and accelerate access to financial tools, helping individuals grow wealth, businesses scale faster, and communities participate in global markets, all through one platform,” the company said.
Cloud9 says its treasury operations now span more than 120 countries, while its payment network supports direct transfers to Mainland China, Hong Kong, India and Southeast Asia. It also handles intra-African collections and local-currency payouts.
The company is primarily targeting businesses involved in international trade. That market is significant in Kenya, where imports from China were valued at $4.31 billion in 2024.
Stablecoins are also part of the infrastructure behind Cloud9’s cross-border transactions. Customers can hold funds in currencies such as US dollars, euros and Kenyan shillings and make payments in those currencies. Cloud9 then uses USDC or USDT behind the scenes to move the money between countries.
“That makes transfers faster and cheaper than correspondent banking and lets Cloud9 open new corridors without a bank in each one,” Mbaabu said.
Cloud9 makes money through foreign-exchange spreads and transaction fees, while some multi-currency accounts and wallets carry monthly charges. The company is also developing additional products for business customers, including cards and credit.
The fintech is entering a competitive Kenyan payments market. Safaricom’s M-Pesa remains widely used for everyday payments, while companies such as Pesapal, Flutterwave and Wise compete in business payments and international transfers.
Rather than relying solely on its banking product, Cloud9 is also trying to build financial services into the platforms and transactions businesses already use.
Its acquisition of M-Tickets brought the company closer to event organisers, ticketing and consumer spending, while the Chpter acquisition gave it access to businesses selling and communicating with customers through platforms such as WhatsApp and Instagram.
The strategy is to use those existing relationships as entry points for more financial products, allowing businesses to manage payments and other financial needs from a single platform.
“Cloud9’s mission is to simplify, democratise, and accelerate access to financial tools, helping individuals grow wealth, businesses scale faster, and communities participate in global markets, all through one platform,” the company said.