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    Nigerian fintech startup Daya raises a $2.4 million pre-seed round to deepen its stablecoin-based financial services.

    Hivemind Capital led the fundraise with participation from Lattice Fund, Alliance DAO, Aptos Foundation, and Globelink Investment. The company will use the funding for product development, expansion, licensing, compliance, and partnerships with financial institutions.

    Daya wants to help Africans receive money more cheaply and quickly 

    Founded in October 2025 by Aleph Lasebikan and Paul Joe, Daya helps businesses receive dollar payments and settle transactions using stablecoins. The company also moves funds across borders through a mix of regulated banking partners and blockchain-based settlement infrastructure.

    Related Post: Kredete Raises $22M to Enable African Immigrants to Access Financial Services

    Both founders are Nigerian operators with deep roots in African financial infrastructure. The pair previously co-founded Helicarrier, one of Africa’s earliest crypto exchanges and stablecoin remittance platforms backed by Y Combinator in 2018. The founders also worked at Circle, Microsoft, and Lyrik Ventures. Those roles gave them experience in stablecoin infrastructure, developer APIs, and African fintech.

    That patchwork slows settlements, hides exchange rates, traps working capital, and leaves companies guessing where their money is at any moment. Daya pulls it all into one dashboard. 

    “The winners in this market will not just own the payment rails; they will own the workflows,” said Paul Joe, co-founder of Daya. “That is why Daya is building both the application layer that companies use every day and the API layer that platform developers can build on top of. We want cross-border payments to feel like modern software: programmable, transparent, compliant, and fast.”

    Businesses can collect payments, convert currencies, hold value in stablecoin wallets, and move money globally. The platform automatically routes each transaction through the best available payment rail. It also issues virtual accounts in U.S. dollars, Hong Kong dollars, and Chinese yuan. Developers can tap APIs to embed cross-border payment infrastructure directly into their own products.

    Related Post: HoneyCoin Raises $4.9M Funding to Drive Cross-border Payments with Stablecoin

    Investor Confidence in Africa’s Stablecoin Future

    The funding comes seven months after Daya emerged from the Alliance DAO ALL15 cohort. That puts the startup among a growing group of Africa-focused fintechs, including Yellow Card and Juicyway, that are betting stablecoins can become a mainstream rail for cross-border business payments.

    The funding also reflects investor confidence in Africa’s stablecoin future. It fits a broader shift in financial services as stablecoins move beyond crypto trading and gain traction in business payments, treasury management, and international commerce.

    “The round was oversubscribed,” Lasebikan, Daya’s co-founder, told TechCabal. “Right now, we’re heads down focused on building and shipping for our users and delivering on the promises we made to our investors and early backers.”

    The partnership lets African businesses settle transactions with counterparties in the Middle East using stablecoins. They can receive and pay out funds in local currencies at both ends. Businesses can access virtual accounts in US dollars, Hong Kong dollars, and Chinese yuan. 

    They can convert local currencies into dollar liquidity, hold funds in stablecoins, and manage payments and treasury operations on one platform, according to Daya. The startup said it has grown more than 40% month over month in 2026. Lasebikan said several businesses now use the platform for cross-border payments and treasury management. He did not specify how many businesses the startup currently serves.

    Daya plans to use the funding for product development, corridor expansion, licensing, compliance infrastructure, and partnerships with local and global financial institutions.

    Related Post: Nigerian Fintech Raenest Secures $11M for African Expansion

    The Investors Who Participated in Daya’s Fundraise

    The funding round brings together investors focused on the global payments corridor in Africa. Hivemind Capital, a New York-based digital asset investment firm, led the round with participation from Lattice Fund, a crypto-focused venture capital firm.

    Aptos Foundation joined as a strategic backer. Its nonprofit arm is dedicated to the adoption and advancement of the Aptos blockchain, a high-performance layer 1 network built for speed, safety, and scalability. The foundation has committed more than $150 million in grants to support builders developing real-world financial applications on the network.

    “Stablecoins are becoming essential infrastructure for businesses that operate across borders, but the real unlock comes when payments, FX, treasury, and reconciliation can move through one system,” Aptos Foundation senior vice president Ash Pampati said. He added, “Daya is building for markets where faster settlement, lower costs, and better access to dollar liquidity can have an immediate impact.”

    Globelink Holding, a Web3 payments firm with a footprint in Asia and Latin America, also participated, highlighting the scale of the opportunity. Afreximbank data shows Africa exported $189.5 billion in goods to Asia in 2024. 

    Asia accounted for 28.5% of Africa’s $769 billion in imports, implying more than $400 billion in annual two-way trade-linked payment flows between the two regions.” The Asia-Africa corridor alone shows the scale of the opportunity,” said Kent Cai, CIO at Globelink Holding. Kayla Phillips at Hivemind Capital framed the company as a gateway to the global dollar economy.

    Daya’s raise comes as African cross-border payments undergo a major structural change. The African Continental Free Trade Area is pushing the continent toward a unified single market. Payment systems such as PAPSS are cutting reliance on correspondent banking and third-party currency settlement. 

    Related Post: CreditChek Raises $600K to Expand Credit Infrastructure Across East Africa

    Stablecoins are also gaining use as practical dollar rails in markets where businesses face currency volatility and fragmented liquidity. They move through decentralized exchanges and DeFi infrastructure, making programmable cross-border payment tools more viable than ever. 

    Main Image: L-R: Tomiwa “Aleph” Lasebikan and Paul Joe, Daya co-founders. Image Credit: Daya

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    The post Nigerian Fintech Daya Raises $2.4M Pre-Seed to Scale Stablecoin Payments Across Africa appeared first on UrbanGeekz.

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