Nigeria’s cross-border payment landscape is rapidly evolving, driven by startups addressing the increasing demand for seamless international transactions.

According to data from the Fintech 2025+ report, cross-border payment flows are projected to reach $290 trillion by 2030. This growth is driven by the rise of international e-commerce, increased workforce mobility across borders, and innovative digital payment solutions that make sending money faster, easier, and more transparent.

Startups in Nigeria are tapping into this market to provide faster, more cost-effective, and secure payment services, thereby fostering economic growth and financial inclusion.

These payments can be made via banks, fintech, or blockchain and involve currency exchange, regulations, and intermediaries.

Here are some notable startups simplifying cross-border payments for Nigerians:

Juicyway

Juicyway, a payment startup using stablecoin technology enables individuals and businesses to send, receive, and process payments globally through fiat and cryptocurrencies. The firm has processed $1.3 billion across 25,000 transactions and 4,000 customers in Nigeria, Canada, the USA, and the UK.

Founded in 2021 by Ife Johnson and Justin Ziegler, the startup recently raised a $3 million pre-seed round led by P1 Ventures, with participation from Ventures Platform, Future Africa, Magic Fund, Andrew Alli, Gbenga Oyebode, Tunde Folawiyo, Microtraction, and others.

Accrue

Accrue, a Nigerian cross-border infrastructure platform that recently secured $1.58 million in seed funding to expand its payment solutions across Africa.

Founded in 2021 by Clinton Mbah, Adesuwa Omoruyi, and Zino Asamaige, Accrue’s initial mission was to simplify cryptocurrency and stock investments for retail users. However, in response to the cryptocurrency market downturn in 2022, the company recognized a growing demand for efficient cross-border payment solutions within Africa.

Accrue’s pivot towards cross-border payments has yielded remarkable success. Over the past three years, the platform has attracted over 200,000 users, facilitating secure and swift financial transactions across the continent.

Read also: Nigerian SMEs expect increased revenue from digital payments, innovations

WeWire

WeWire empowers businesses to pay and collect local and international currencies. The platform facilitates sending and receiving money from Nigeria, Ghana, and Kenya.

Eben Ghanney, founder of WeWire, said in a report that businesses need a fast, reliable, and dynamic payment vehicle for their multi-currency needs. In April 2022, WeWire was formally launched to solve these cross-border payment problems.

The first WeWire OTC desk was set up in April 2021. Businesses soon began arriving with Cedis, Naira, and Kenyan Shillings, asking for international payments to be made to the US, UK, China, and numerous other nations for their import, manufacturing, technology, and logistics operations. At the end of its first year of business, the startup hit a transaction volume of $210 million.

Waza

Launched in January 2023, Waza has positioned itself as a key player in Africa’s burgeoning fintech landscape. The company’s platform facilitates foreign exchange liquidity and provides a streamlined settlement infrastructure, addressing the complex challenges that African businesses face in global trade.

Co-founded by Maxwell Obi, a veteran of the fintech industry with previous stints at Sendwave and Amplify, and Emmanuel Igbodudu, a former senior engineer at Revolut, Waza’s rapid growth underscores the significant demand for efficient cross-border payment solutions in Africa, where businesses often struggle with liquidity issues and extended payment cycles.

The company’s revenue model is based on foreign exchange spreads and a transaction take rate of 0.75 percent to 1 percent.

Waza recently launched Lync, a banking product designed to help businesses manage multi-currency accounts and make international payments

Klasha

Klasha focuses on providing seamless cross-border B2B payment solutions between Asia and Africa through its virtual multi-currency accounts, collection, payout APIs, and cross-border wire services. It aims to address the evolving needs of sending and receiving payments between Asian and African markets while delivering fast terminations in a multitude of currencies at competitive prices.

Founded in 2021 by Jess Anuna, the startup is licensed to provide services in multiple countries, facilitating transactions for businesses and consumers across six African countries, Canada, the UK, and the US.

Vesti

Vesti is a migration fintech company that offers solutions that enable users to send and receive money abroad with real-time encryption. It uses artificial intelligence and blockchain for security.

Founded in 2020 by two brothers Olusola and Abimbola Amusan, the company’s products and services help people explore new horizons globally and legally.

Vesti’s AI-powered copilot, Miai, is a key component of its comprehensive offering, providing personalised support and guidance to immigrants throughout their migration journey.

Flutterwave

Flutterwave, founded by Olugbenga Agboola in 2016, is one of the payment gateways in Nigeria and across Africa. It is known for its robust platform that facilitates seamless cross-border payments.

It has processed over 550 million transactions totalling over $32 billion and has served over two million businesses. The firm has extensive infrastructure across 34 African countries, with Uganda recently joining the list. It supports over 150 currencies and integrates with major global payment systems like PayPal, Alipay, and mobile wallets.