As payment companies increasingly explore Stablecoins for cross-border payments and real-time settlements, some startups have leveraged Zeitgeist by providing liquidity through Stablecoins' revolving credit lines Masu.
One of them is Dubai-based Mantha, which offers primarily African payment companies to settle transactions and immediately fund customer accounts. The startup raised $10 million in seed funds, including both stocks and debt. Stablecoin Provider Tether led the $3 million equity investment.
The funding will help the company expand into Latin America and Southeast Asia, regions where liquidity challenges limit cross-border transactions.
Mansa says the model improves client cash flow at a lower cost than Fiat alternatives, positioning it as a key player in the future of payments. Co-founders, CEOs Mouloukou Sanoh and Coo Nkiru Uwaje bring years of expertise in finance, payments and Web3.
A several African fintech investor, Sanoh previously worked for the Web3 VC company Adaverse. Uwaje was the innovation manager for Swift and LED blockchain strategies for Dell in the UK and Ireland.
While cross-border payments are extremely important for global commercial transactions, many payment providers face liquidity shortages, with delayed settlement and operational costs, particularly in emerging markets. Transfers average 6.5% worldwide, disproportionately affecting developing regions. Cross-border payments are expected to reach $290.2 trillion per year by 2030, so current system inefficiencies could cost billions of dollars.
Mantha says he will address this by providing a fast, flexible, embedded pre-finance solution and completing due diligence within a month. And unlike traditional lenders, they take on loans based on real-time transactional data while procuring liquidity at scale through distributed finance (DEFI). It aggregates capital from Defi Platforms, Quant Funds, Family Office and Hedge Fands.
For the seed round, Mantha has secured $7 million in liquidity from some of these agencies. Meanwhile, other investors who participated in the Equity Round with Tether include the faculty group, Octera Capital, Polymorphic Capital and Trive Digital.
“Payments are moving in the chain, but for payments to move in the chain, they need to have on-chain liquidity so that they can be resolved quickly,” Sanoh told TechCrunch. “That's why our partnership with Tether is so important, why is we working so closely together to become a major stubcoin in emerging markets?”
Despite USDC's rapid growth last year, the founder said Mantha is bullish with TETHER's USDT, as it continues to expand with rising chain payment activities, especially in emerging markets.
It also makes sense that Mantha's customers are not based in Europe. There, Tether and nine other digital assets have recently been delisted from the EU regulatory platform to fail to meet MICA compliance standards. Tether still holds 70% of its market share among Stablecoins around the world in terms of trading volume.
Still, from a compliance standpoint, Mantha says it is focused on regulatory compliance. FinTech recently hired former head of HSBC North Asia and the Chief Justice of Franklin Templeton to increase regulatory oversight.
Similarly, Stablecoin's liquidity platform builds a robust risk framework for liquidity and payments, including AML checks, sanctions screening, KYC (know your customers), KYB (know your business), Active transaction monitoring, and stated that it is ensuring compliance with blockchain analytics tools. “We're building fintech and we approach everything with that mindset,” Uwaje emphasized.
Meanwhile, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said the Stablecoin Provider is “prideful to work with Mansa to support its efforts to rebuild the global payment infrastructure.”
So far, Mansa has paid clients over $18 million in payments to allow them to access more than $200 million in liquidity through their partner network. Fintech claims there is no default so far.
Similarly, trading volumes have skyrocketed since its launch six months ago, from $1.6 million in August last year to $11 million in January, up from $1.6 million, with a monthly growth rate of 37.5%. It processed nearly $310 million over that period. The company expects it to reach a total payout of $1 billion this year, up from its current $240 million execution rate.
Two years ago, FinTech serves a wide range of clients, including B2B payment platforms, virtual card providers, Stablecoin Infrastructure, Forex platforms, and money transfer companies operating in Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia.
These clients have reported a 30% increase in transaction volume and a 10% increase in revenue since onboarding, FinTech said. Meanwhile, Mantha's own revenues — generated from fees for funded transactions — have increased 350% over the past six months.
Loans are the starting point for mansas. But according to Sanoh, there's more to do. “We're starting by becoming a major liquidity provider for the largest payments company in emerging markets,” explained CEO Sano.
“From there, we can also process payments and provide additional services such as forex. The goal is to create a one-stop payment platform that allows payment financing, immediate transaction resolution and seamless access to foreign currency. – The striped chain version.