South African fintech Lumepay announced a $6 million pre-seed funding round and the rollout of its cross-border payments platform in Kenya after receiving regulatory clearance from the Central Bank of Kenya.
The round, closed at the start of 2026, was backed by founder-led angel investors and South African fintech investors, and the company also obtained roughly $10 million of capital float to fund liquidity for client payments.
Lumepay’s service provides payment infrastructure for small and medium enterprises, large corporations and financial institutions that need to settle overseas supplier invoices, manage foreign-exchange and move money between African markets, supporting currencies such as the Chinese yuan, US dollar and Indian rupee.
Chief Executive Harry Huang said the firm blends traditional financial infrastructure with digital-asset settlement to tackle challenges in international payments, adding that the future of cross-border payments lies at the intersection of conventional finance and stablecoins.
Chief Operating Officer Luc Varejes said the new capital has been used to build liquidity arrangements, payment infrastructure and partnerships across target markets, and to secure regulatory clearance in South Africa and Kenya together with licensed partners in Francophone West and Central Africa.
The company launched its digital-asset and stablecoin trading platform, Lumetrade, in April 2026 and followed with the cross-border payments platform in June 2026; services are live across the West African CFA franc, Central African CFA franc zones, Nigeria, Ghana, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique and Kenya, although capabilities differ by market.
Kenya is highlighted as a key market because of its established digital-payments ecosystem and large community of importers and exporters of electronics, machinery, textiles and consumer goods.
Lumepay notes that clearance from the Central Bank of Kenya was received in October, but the precise scope of the authorisation and the entities responsible for individual services should be confirmed independently.
The firm is led by CEO Harry Huang, COO Luc Varejes and Chief Legal and Compliance Officer Tatenda Nhemachena; the $6 million round provides resources to expand infrastructure and liquidity relationships, while the $10 million capital float is intended solely for supporting customer payments and does not constitute additional equity.
The company acknowledges that its competitive position will depend on the total cost of transactions, including exchange-rate spreads, fees and settlement times, and cites a potential test involving a KSh500,000 invoice to a Chinese supplier to compare its pricing with that of banks and other fintech providers.
