Kenyan fintech HoneyCoin has raised a $4.9m seed round to expand its stablecoin-powered cross-border payment infrastructure into new emerging markets.

The round was led by global fintech investor Flourish Ventures, with participation from major Africa-focused VC firm TLcom Capital. The syndicate also includes the Stellar Development Foundation, Lava, Musha Ventures, 4DX Ventures, Antler, and Visa Ventures, the corporate venture arm of the global payments giant.

The investment signals a growing trend among VCs who, after a bruising “crypto winter” that saw several African digital asset startups collapse, are now channelling capital into ventures that use blockchain for practical applications rather than speculation.

Why it matters

Africa’s cross-border payment market is valued at over $329bn, but it is notoriously fragmented, slow and expensive. HoneyCoin is one of a growing number of startups arguing that stablecoins — digital currencies pegged to stable assets like the US dollar — offer a viable solution.

By using stablecoin-based settlement rails, the company says it can move funds in hours instead of days, and at a lower cost than traditional correspondent banking systems. This funding round demonstrates that investors are buying into that vision, prioritising utility over the hype that defined the last crypto cycle.

“This raise enables us to lead that transformation, across Africa and other global markets,” said David Nandwa, founder and CEO of HoneyCoin.

The details

Founded in 2020, HoneyCoin has built a payment infrastructure that connects to banks, mobile money networks and global payment partners. The company claims it processes $150m in monthly transactions for 350 enterprise clients and over 326,000 individual users.

Nandwa told Sifted that the company has been profitable for the past two years, with most of its revenue generated from B2B settlement and acquiring services. Corporate clients pay up to $2,500 monthly to integrate its payments API.

“We’ve built a proprietary, stablecoin-powered AI Matching Engine that uses the customer and volume data we have to net off flows,” Nandwa explained. “We have also built a global colocation network of strategic banks that powers our near-instant to same-day settlements.”

A stablecoin resurgence

HoneyCoin’s funding is not an isolated event. It points to a recalibration in Africa’s digital asset landscape.

This renewed investor focus on stablecoin-centric ventures follows a period of contraction that saw the shutdown of several consumer-focused crypto exchanges like Lazerpay, Bundle Africa and Buycoins Pro.

Now, the focus is on infrastructure.

• Mansa: In July 2025, Dubai-based fintech Mansa, which provides instant settlement for payment companies in Africa, closed a $10m seed round with an equity portion led by stablecoin issuer Tether.
• IvoryPay: Nigerian platform IvoryPay, which enables businesses to accept stablecoin payments, recently secured backing from the Hedera distributed ledger network.

This trend is backed by user behaviour. According to data from blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis, stablecoins already account for 43% of all cryptocurrency transaction volume in sub-Saharan Africa, underscoring their role in commerce and as a hedge against local currency volatility.

“The capital will strengthen core infrastructure, deepen bank and regulator relationships, and add senior talent to serve larger enterprise clients,” Efayomi Carr, a principal at Flourish Ventures, said about the HoneyCoin investment. “[The company] has the chance to cement itself as the go-to infrastructure layer for collecting, converting, and settling funds in any currency.”

What’s next?

HoneyCoin, which currently operates in 15 African countries, the US and parts of Europe, will use the new capital to fund its expansion into Mozambique, Zambia, Rwanda and other Francophone African markets, as well as Latin America and Asia. The funds will also be used for senior hires and to secure additional operating licences.

The company plans to launch several new products in the third quarter of 2025, including:

• A stablecoin-backed debit card in partnership with Visa.
• A cross-border liquidity solution for African corporates with pan-African payments company Interswitch.
• A banking-as-a-service (BaaS) product in Ghana, Malawi and Tanzania.
• A software point-of-sale (POS) solution for the East African market.