Dubai-based Mansa, a startup focused on Africa, is tapping into the growing interest in stablecoins for cross-border payments and real-time settlement by offering liquidity through a revolving line of credit in stablecoins. Mansa’s service enables payments companies to settle transactions and fund customer accounts instantly. Recently, the company raised $10 million in seed funding, including both equity and debt, with stablecoin provider Tether leading the $3 million equity round.
The funds will help Mansa expand into Latin America and Southeast Asia, two regions where liquidity issues often hinder cross-border transactions. Mansa’s business model aims to improve cash flow for clients at a lower cost than traditional fiat alternatives, positioning itself as a key player in the future of global payments. The company’s co-founders, CEO Mouloukou Sanoh and COO Nkiru Uwaje, bring deep experience in finance, payments, and Web3 technologies. Sanoh previously worked as an investor in African fintechs and at web3 VC firm Adaverse, while Uwaje managed blockchain strategy at SWIFT and led innovation at Dell in the UK and Ireland.
Cross-border payments are vital to global commerce, but many providers struggle with liquidity, leading to delayed settlements and higher costs, especially in emerging markets. Remittance costs globally average 6.5%, disproportionately affecting developing regions. With cross-border payments expected to reach $290 trillion annually by 2030, these inefficiencies could cost businesses billions. Mansa addresses this challenge by offering fast, flexible embedded pre-funding solutions that complete due diligence in under a month. Unlike traditional lenders, Mansa underwrites loans based on real-time transaction data rather than collateral and sources liquidity through decentralized finance (DeFi), aggregating capital from DeFi platforms, hedge funds, family offices, and quant funds.
For its seed round, Mansa secured $7 million in liquidity from institutions involved in the DeFi space. Investors in the equity round, alongside Tether, include Faculty Group, Octerra Capital, Polymorphic Capital, and Trive Digital.
Sanoh emphasized the importance of liquidity for the seamless movement of payments on-chain, making Mansa’s partnership with Tether vital for success in emerging markets. Despite the rapid growth of USDC, Mansa favors Tether due to its broader accessibility, flexibility, and market dominance in the space.
While Tether has faced regulatory challenges in Europe, where it and other digital assets were delisted from EU-regulated platforms for not meeting MiCA standards, the stablecoin still holds 70% of the global market share in terms of trading volume. Mansa’s customers, however, are primarily based in regions outside Europe, where Tether is still widely used.
Mansa is also committed to regulatory compliance. To ensure adherence to legal standards, the fintech has hired former HSBC North Asia head and Franklin Templeton’s chief legal officer. The company is building risk management frameworks for liquidity and payments, focusing on anti-money laundering (AML), Know Your Customer (KYC), Know Your Business (KYB), transaction monitoring, and blockchain analytics.
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino expressed pride in collaborating with Mansa, supporting the startup’s vision to reshape global payment infrastructure. Since its launch, Mansa has disbursed over $18 million in financed payments and accessed over $200 million in liquidity from its partner network. The fintech claims no defaults to date and has seen substantial growth in transaction volume, surging from $1.6 million in August to $11 million in January, with a monthly growth rate of 37.5%. Mansa projects a $1 billion total payment volume (TPV) run rate by the end of the year.
Serving clients across Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia, Mansa works with B2B payment platforms, virtual card providers, forex platforms, stablecoin infrastructure companies, and remittance firms. Mansa’s clients have reported a 30% increase in transaction volumes and a 10% revenue boost. The fintech itself has experienced a 350% increase in revenues in the last six months.
Lending is just the beginning for Mansa. According to CEO Sanoh, the company plans to evolve into an all-in-one payment platform that offers liquidity, instant transaction settlement, and foreign currency access. The goal is for Mansa to become an on-chain version of Stripe, providing comprehensive payment solutions for businesses across emerging markets.
