Cloud9 Secures Investment from Alliance to Build the Borderless Bank for African Entrepreneurs

Cloud9, a digital bank enabling instant global payments, borderless banking and modern financial tools for a new generation of African consumers and businesses, today announced a strategic investment from Alliance, the leading accelerator and fund for crypto and fintech startups. The investment brings Cloud9’s total funding to $1 million and will accelerate its mission to become the neobank that a continent of entrepreneurs runs its global ambition on.

Kenyan businesses import over $20bn of goods a year, much of it from China, Dubai and India. Yet for the entrepreneurs behind those payments, moving money across borders is still slow and costly. Banks can take up to two weeks to open a business account and days to settle each wire. Informal agents are faster but leave no record and no recourse. And mobile money, which runs daily commerce in Kenya, stops at the border.

Cloud9 closes that gap. Built on stablecoin rails, Cloud9 gives entrepreneurs one account on their phone to hold, send, receive, save and invest money across currencies and borders. Users can hold shillings, dollars, euros, pounds and yuan; pay suppliers in 100+ countries in minutes; receive payments from clients abroad through dedicated virtual accounts; and cash out to mobile money when needed.

Businesses can also run payroll, bulk payments and team approvals from a single dashboard, while Cloud9 Wealth gives Kenyans access to savings vaults and global stock markets.

“Kenya already skipped the bank branch once. Mobile money became how the country pays for almost everything, but only within its borders. With Cloud9, a merchant in Nairobi should be able to pay a supplier in Guangzhou as easily as they pay a vendor down the street. Where an entrepreneur is based should not limit who they can buy from or sell to,” said Tesh Mbaabu, Founder and CEO of Cloud9.

Since going live in early 2026, Cloud9 has passed 25,000 accounts created and is growing transaction volume by over 15% week over week.

“Stablecoins are becoming the settlement layer for global trade, and Africa is where that shift matters most. Tesh has built for African merchants at scale before, and Cloud9 is turning stablecoin rails into an everyday bank account for the entrepreneurs who need it most,” said Imran Khan, General Partner at Alliance.

The new funding will be used to expand Cloud9’s cross-border payment corridors, elevate the product experience, launch virtual and physical cards, and grow its base of African consumers and businesses participating in global trade through the app.