Daya, a stablecoin-focused payments startup, closed a $2.4 million pre-seed round led by Hivemind Capital, with backing from Lattice, Alliance, Globelink, and the Aptos Foundation. The company is assembling a settlement and treasury platform for African businesses that move money across borders, combining local payment rails, stablecoin accounts (in USD, HKD, and CNY), FX tools, and compliance infrastructure into one interface.
The founding team includes Tomiwa Lasebikan, co-founder of Y Combinator-backed Helicarrier (formerly BuyCoins), and Paul Joe. Both have worked in stablecoin infrastructure, developer APIs, and fintech roles at Circle, Microsoft, and other firms.
The numbers behind the bet
Globelink partner Kent Cai cited Afreximbank data on the trade volume anchoring the pitch: Africa exported $189.5 billion in goods to Asia in 2024, while Asia supplied 28.5% of the continent's $769 billion in annual imports. That implies over $400 billion in two-way trade flows annually, much of it subject to slow, costly, or fragmented payment channels.
Daya's software targets that friction. Businesses access virtual accounts, stablecoins, payout rails, and approval workflows through a dashboard. Developers can embed cross-border payment features into their own products via the company's APIs.
Context and what's next
The raise follows a pilot corridor partnership announced earlier this month between Daya, Aptos Foundation, and HashKey MENA. Daya said the funding will cover product development, licensing, compliance infrastructure, new payment corridors, and financial institution partnerships.
African cross-border payments are being reshaped by regional trade agreements, new payment systems, and rising stablecoin adoption in markets where businesses face prohibitive transfer costs, illiquid banking options, and currency volatility. Whether Daya can build the compliance and partnerships necessary to compete with established remittance and fintech players remains an open question. The startup's ability to land financial institution integrations and navigate differing regulatory regimes across African countries will matter far more than the size of the raise.