Kotani Pay Raises $2M for African Expansion, Financial Inclusion

Kotani Pay, a Kenya-based digital currency on- and off-ramp service provider, recently raised $2 million in pre-seed funding, according to a report.

The round was led by initial investor P1 Ventures of San Francisco, with participation from Digital Currency Group/Luno and Flori Ventures.

According to a report by Techcrunch, Kotani Pay will use the funds raised to expand into five African nations: Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Rwanda, and Senegal.

The thriving capital raise enables Kotani Pay to fulfill its promise to facilitate cross-border remittances for the unbanked population of the African continent.

In addition to attempting to facilitate the international transfer of remittances, the Kenyan startup is engaged in efforts to bring financial services to Africa’s refugee population.

Additionally, Kotani Pay has developed software that enables feature phone users to send funds through its platform.

While the fintech startup’s use of blockchain and stablecoins for cross-border fund transfers is likely to attract the attention of regulators, Kotani Pay co-founder Felix Macharia stated that working with regulated entities has served to clarify certain aspects of their operations.

“To ensure that our operations are compliant, we either deal directly with the local mobile money operators or rely on the charter of regulated partners.

According to Macharia, central banks are becoming enthusiastic about some of these use cases and are participating in the development of central bank digital currencies.

The co-founder added that, over time, more African nations will join Botswana, Mauritius, and South Africa, which have all enacted regulations governing digital asset companies.