Kenyan neobank Cloud9 gets $500,000 from Alliance, taking total funding to $1 million

Cloud9, a Kenyan digital bank for cross-border payments, has received $500,000 from Alliance, the New York-based crypto and fintech accelerator, as part of an ongoing pre-seed round, Condia reported on 7 October. Disrupt Africa, which covered the deal on 9 October, said the size of the investment had not been disclosed. Both outlets say the startup's total funding now stands at $1 million.

According to Condia, Techstars and undisclosed angel investors have also backed the pre-seed round.

Cloud9 was founded by Tesh Mbaabu and Mesongo Sibuti, who previously built MarketForce, the Y Combinator-backed company behind the B2B retail marketplace RejaReja. After closing RejaReja in 2024, the pair started Chpter, a chat automation tool for businesses, before launching Cloud9 early this year.

The startup is aimed at Kenyan businesses that import goods from markets such as China, Dubai and India, and that face slow account opening and settlement times when paying suppliers abroad. Built on stablecoin rails, Cloud9 offers a single mobile account in which users can hold Kenyan shillings, US dollars, euros, pounds and yuan, and pay suppliers in more than 100 countries.