As the payment industry increasingly explores the potential of stablecoins for facilitating cross-border transactions and real-time settlements, certain startups are capitalizing on this trend by providing liquidity through a revolving line of credit in stablecoins.
One such startup is Mansa, a Dubai-based company with a focus on Africa, which offers a solution that enables payments companies to settle transactions and fund customer accounts instantly. Mansa has successfully raised $10 million in seed funding, comprising both equity and debt, with stablecoin provider Tether leading the $3 million equity investment.
The funds raised will be utilized to support the company’s expansion into Latin America and Southeast Asia, regions where liquidity challenges significantly hinder cross-border transactions.
Mansa’s model is designed to enhance clients’ cash flow at a lower cost compared to traditional fiat alternatives, positioning the company as a key player in the future of payments. The co-founders, CEO Mouloukou Sanoh and COO Nkiru Uwaje, bring extensive expertise in finance, payments, and web3 to the table.
Sanoh, an investor in several African fintech companies, previously worked at web3 VC firm Adaverse, while Uwaje served as an innovation manager at SWIFT and led blockchain strategy for Dell in the U.K. and Ireland.
Cross-border payments are essential to global commerce; however, many payment providers face liquidity shortages, resulting in delayed settlements and higher operational costs, particularly in emerging markets. The average remittance cost globally is 6.5%, disproportionately affecting developing regions. With cross-border payments expected to reach $290.2 trillion annually by 2030, inefficiencies in the current system could incur significant costs for businesses.
Mansa addresses this issue by offering rapid, flexible embedded pre-funding solutions, completing due diligence in under a month. Unlike traditional lenders, the company underwrites loans based on real-time transaction data rather than collateral, sourcing liquidity at scale through decentralized finance (DeFi) and aggregating capital from DeFi platforms, quant funds, family offices, and hedge funds.
For its seed round, Mansa secured $7 million in liquidity from various institutions. Other investors that participated in the equity round alongside Tether include Faculty Group, Octerra Capital, Polymorphic Capital, and Trive Digital.
“Payments are transitioning to on-chain, but on-chain liquidity is necessary for instant settlement. That’s why our partnership with Tether is crucial, and we’re working closely together to make it the primary stablecoin in emerging markets,” Sanoh told TechCrunch.
Despite USDC’s rapid growth last year, the founders remain bullish on Tether due to its broad accessibility, usage flexibility, and market dominance, which continues to expand alongside rising on-chain payment activity, especially in emerging markets.
It’s notable that Mansa’s customers are not based in Europe, where Tether and nine other digital assets were recently delisted from EU-regulated platforms for non-compliance with MiCA standards. Nevertheless, Tether still holds 70% of the market share in terms of trading volume among stablecoins globally.
From a compliance perspective, Mansa emphasizes regulatory adherence, having recently hired the former head of HSBC North Asia and the chief legal officer of Franklin Templeton to strengthen its regulatory oversight.
The stablecoin liquidity platform is also building robust risk frameworks for liquidity and payments, ensuring compliance with AML checks, sanction screening, KYC, KYB, active transaction monitoring, and blockchain analytics tools. “We’re building a fintech, and we approach everything with that mindset,” Nkiru stressed.
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino expressed pride in collaborating with Mansa to support their efforts in reshaping global payment infrastructure.
To date, Mansa has disbursed over $18 million in payments financed to its clients, with access to over $200 million in liquidity through its partner network, and claims to have zero defaults.
The company’s transaction volume has surged since its launch six months ago, from $1.6 million in August to $11 million in January, compounding at a monthly growth rate of 37.5%. It has processed nearly $31 million in that period and expects to reach a $1 billion total payment volume (TPV) run rate this year, up from its current $240 million run rate, Sanoh disclosed.
Mansa serves a broad range of clients, including B2B payment platforms, virtual card providers, stablecoin infrastructure, forex platforms, and remittance companies operating in Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia. These clients have reported a 30% increase in transaction volumes and a 10% revenue boost since onboarding, while Mansa’s revenues have grown 350% in the past six months.
Lending is Mansa’s starting point, but the company has broader ambitions. “We’re starting by being the primary liquidity provider to the biggest payment companies across emerging markets,” CEO Sanoh explained. “From there, we can handle payouts and offer additional services like foreign exchange. The goal is to create a one-stop payment platform where they can finance their payments, settle transactions instantly, and access foreign currency seamlessly — all in one place,” said Sanoh, adding that it’s an evolution that could see it become an on-chain version of Stripe.
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