Kenyan Crypto Startup Kotani Pay Raises USD 2 M Pre-Seed Round

Nairobi-based Kotani Pay, a crypto payments startup with a vision to make cross-border remittances easier for the large underbanked populations in Africa, has closed a USD 2 M pre-seed funding round led by P1 Ventures, with participation from a  number of investors including DCG/Luno and Flori Ventures. The startup plans to use the funding to further expand to Rwanda, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Tanzania, and Nigeria.

Kotani has built a middleware connecting blockchains to local payment networks, many of which let users send money on feature phones without the internet using a communication protocol called Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD). Kotani also allows users to “on-ramp,” or convert their local currencies into USD, a solution that’s tailored more to businesses at the moment but could open to retail users in the future with the required licenses. Some of its major crypto partners include Yellowcard, DCG, Fonbank, Celo’s Valora, Mercy Corps, UNICEF Crypto Innovation Fund and Stellar.