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African businesses are going global. The financial infrastructure helping them get there has not kept up, until now.
Daya, a <a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/stablecoins" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">stablecoin-native payments</a> company founded by Nigerian entrepreneurs, has raised $2.4 million in pre-seed funding to build what it describes as a financial operating layer for African businesses that operate across borders.&nbsp;
The round was led by Hivemind Capital, with participation from Lattice, Alliance, Globelink, and Aptos Foundation.
<a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/markets/veteran-trader-says-one-trend-could-send-bitcoin-to-1-million" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Related: Veteran trader says one trend could send Bitcoin to $1 million</a>
<h2 id="the-problem-daya-is-solving">The problem Daya is solving</h2>
African businesses that import, export, hire across countries, or manage treasury in multiple markets typically rely on a patchwork of local banks, foreign exchange desks, crypto ramps, payment processors, and manual spreadsheets to move money.&nbsp;
The result is slow settlement, opaque exchange rates, trapped working capital, and little visibility into where money is at any given moment.
Daya's platform consolidates all of that into a single dashboard. Businesses can collect payments, convert currencies, hold value in <a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/markets/major-gold-holder-launches-self-custody-wallet" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">stablecoin wallets</a>, and move money globally, routing each transaction through the best available payment rail automatically.&nbsp;
The platform supports virtual accounts in U.S. dollars, Hong Kong dollars, and Chinese yuan, and also offers APIs for developers who want to embed cross-border payment infrastructure into their own products.
<h2 id="who-is-building-it">Who is building it?</h2>
Daya was founded by Aleph L and Paul Joe, both Nigerian operators with deep roots in African financial infrastructure. The pair previously co-founded Helicarrier, one of Africa's earliest crypto exchange and stablecoin remittance platforms, which was backed by Y Combinator in 2018.&nbsp;
Both founders have also held roles at <a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/markets/wall-street-analyst-predicts-major-upside-for-cryptos-most-subscribed-ipo" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Circle</a>, <a href="https://www.thestreet.com/technology/microsofts-ceo-sends-the-ai-industry-a-strong-warning" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Microsoft</a>, and Lyrik Ventures, giving them experience across stablecoin infrastructure, developer APIs, and African fintech.
"The winners in this market will not just own the payment rails; they will own the workflows," said Paul Joe, co-founder of Daya.&nbsp;
<blockquote>
 "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."
</blockquote>
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<h2 id="why-investors-are-paying-attention">Why investors are paying attention</h2>
The funding round brings together investors with a specific interest in the Africa-global payments corridor.&nbsp;
Hivemind Capital led the round, while Aptos Foundation joined as a strategic backer.
<a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/tag/aptos-foundation" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Aptos Foundation</a> is a nonprofit dedicated to the adoption and advancement of the Aptos blockchain, a high-performance layer-1 network built for speed, safety, and scalability.&nbsp;
The foundation has committed over $150 million in grants to support builders developing real-world financial applications on the network.
<blockquote>
 "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&nbsp;senior vice president&nbsp;Ash Pampati&nbsp;said.&nbsp;
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
 He added, "Daya is building for markets where faster settlement, lower costs, and better access to dollar liquidity can have an immediate impact."
</blockquote>
Globelink Holding, a <a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/tag/web3" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Web3 payments</a> firm with a footprint in Asia and Latin America, also participated and pointed to the scale of the opportunity.&nbsp;
According to Afreximbank data, Africa exported $189.5 billion in goods to Asia in 2024, while 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.
<blockquote>
 "The Asia-Africa corridor alone shows the scale of the opportunity," said Kent Cai, CIO at Globelink Holding.&nbsp;
</blockquote>
Kayla Phillips at Hivemind Capital framed the company as a gateway to the global dollar economy.&nbsp;
<h2 id="the-bigger-picture">The bigger picture</h2>
The raise comes at a moment of significant structural change in African cross-border payments. The African Continental Free Trade Area is pushing the continent toward a unified single market.&nbsp;
Payment systems such as PAPSS are reducing reliance on correspondent banking and third-currency settlement. Stablecoins are increasingly being used as practical dollar rails in markets where businesses face currency volatility and fragmented liquidity, moving through decentralized exchanges and <a href="https://business.1inch.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">DeFi infrastructure</a> in ways that make programmable cross-border payment tools more viable than ever.
Daya plans to use the funding for product development, corridor expansion, licensing, compliance infrastructure, and partnerships with local and global financial institutions.
<a href="https://www.thestreet.com/crypto/innovation/aptos-powers-a-new-stablecoin-payment-corridor" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Related: Aptos powers a new stablecoin payment corridor between the Middle East and Africa</a>

Daya raises $2.4 million from Aptos and others to power African cross-border payments

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