Cloud9, a digital bank offering instant international payments and modern money tools to African consumers and businesses, has secured a strategic investment from Alliance, taking its total funding to $1m.

Alliance, which describes itself as a leading accelerator and fund for digital asset and FinTech start-ups, is backing the company as it pursues its goal of becoming the go-to neobank for the continent’s entrepreneurs with global ambitions.

Cloud9 will put the fresh capital towards opening more cross-border payment corridors, improving its product experience, rolling out virtual and physical cards, and attracting more African consumers and businesses that trade internationally through its app.

The company is targeting a sizeable problem. Kenyan firms bring in more than $20bn worth of goods every year, with China, Dubai and India among the main sources, it said. Despite this, sending money abroad remains a slow and expensive process for the business owners making those payments. Opening a business bank account can take as long as two weeks, and individual wire transfers may need several days to clear. Informal agents offer speed but provide neither a paper trail nor any protection if something goes wrong. Meanwhile, mobile money, the backbone of everyday trade in Kenya, cannot be used beyond the country’s borders.

Cloud9 runs on stablecoin infrastructure and offers entrepreneurs a single mobile account for storing, transferring, receiving, saving and investing funds in multiple currencies. Customers can keep balances in shillings, dollars, euros, pounds and yuan, settle invoices with suppliers across more than 100 countries within minutes, accept money from overseas clients via dedicated virtual accounts, and withdraw to mobile money whenever required.

Source link