Lagos-based fintech startup Daya has raised $2.4 million in seed funding to expand its stablecoin payment network across Africa, the company announced this week.
The round was led by Ventures Platform, with participation from Timon Capital, Magic Fund, and several undisclosed angel investors. Daya plans to use the capital to scale its payment infrastructure and expand operations beyond Nigeria into other African markets.
Founded in 2023, Daya operates a payment platform that leverages stablecoins , cryptocurrencies pegged to fiat currencies like the US dollar to facilitate cross-border transactions. The startup targets businesses and individuals seeking faster, cheaper alternatives to traditional remittance channels and bank transfers.
According to the company, its platform reduces transaction costs by up to 70 percent compared to conventional payment methods, while settlement times drop from days to minutes. Daya supports multiple stablecoins including USDT (Tether) and USDC (USD Coin), allowing users to send and receive payments without exposure to cryptocurrency price volatility.
“Cross-border payments in Africa remain expensive and slow, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises,” said Daya co-founder and chief executive Ore Somolu in a statement. “We are building infrastructure that makes it as easy to send money from Lagos to Nairobi as it is to send it across the street.”
Growing Adoption of Stablecoins in Africa
Daya’s funding comes amid rising stablecoin adoption across Africa. A September 2024 report by Chainalysis found that Sub-Saharan Africa received $117 billion in cryptocurrency value between July 2023 and June 2024, with stablecoins accounting for the majority of transactions.
In Nigeria, stablecoins have become a popular tool for preserving value amid naira depreciation and for accessing dollars in a market where foreign exchange is tightly controlled. The Central Bank of Nigeria has not issued clear regulations on stablecoin use, though it has maintained a ban on banks facilitating cryptocurrency transactions since 2021.
Despite regulatory uncertainty, several African fintecomes have built payment products around stablecoins. South Africa’s Onyx and Kenya’s Kotani Pay have also raised venture funding in recent months to develop similar infrastructure.
Expansion Plans and Regulatory Challenges
Daya did not disclose specific markets it plans to enter, but Somolu said the company is in discussions with regulators in multiple African countries. The startup currently operates in Nigeria and has processed transactions worth over $50 million since launch, according to company data.
Kola Aina, founder and general partner at Ventures Platform, said the firm backed Daya because of the clarity of its use case. “Stablecoins solve real problems in African payments , speed, cost, and access to hard currency,” Aina said. “Daya has built a compliant, user-friendly product that businesses actually want to use.”
The startup faces competition from both traditional fintech players and emerging crypto-native payment platforms. Flutterwave, Chipper Cash, and Lemonade Finance have all integrated stablecoin functionality into their products in the past year.
Regulatory risk remains a concern. Several African governments, including Nigeria and Kenya, have signalled plans to introduce comprehensive digital asset regulations in 2025. Unclear rules could complicate Daya’s expansion plans, particularly in markets where stablecoin use is not explicitly permitted.
Daya did not respond to requests for comment on how it plans to navigate regulatory uncertainty.