Nala secures $50m credit facility to expand stablecoin-powered cross-border payments

Tanzanian-founded fintech Nala has secured a credit financing facility of up to $50 million to scale its stablecoin-powered cross-border payments infrastructure, as demand for high-speed business-to-business transactions between emerging markets, Europe and the United States continues to grow.

The debt funding has been provided by Liquidity, a private credit firm, and is structured through Mars Growth Capital, a joint venture between Liquidity and Japan’s largest financial institution, MUFG Bank.

Flexible financing structure to match transaction growth

According to an official statement from Nala, the facility is designed to scale in line with transaction volumes, beginning with an immediate $25 million drawdown and expanding to $50 million or more, depending on demand.

The fintech said it remains in a strong financial position following its $40 million Series A round in 2024, still holding more than half of that capital. The new facility will be used strictly to support liquidity needs rather than general operating costs.

Addressing liquidity pressures in cross-border payments

The company said the funding will help address one of the biggest challenges in cross-border payments: the need for pre-funding local accounts to enable instant settlements.

Benjamin Fernandes, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Nala, explained, “At some point, our business was more than doubling every other quarter. We grew faster than we could handle pre-funding for single-direction payments.”

In traditional payment systems, funds often need to be held in advance within destination countries before transfers can be completed. This creates significant liquidity pressure for fast-scaling fintechs.

Nala said the credit line will help it absorb pre-funding requirements, expand into new payment corridors, and support large enterprise clients processing high-volume transactions.

Shift from remittances to enterprise payment infrastructure

Founded in 2017, Nala originally focused on consumer remittances for the African diaspora but has since pivoted towards enterprise-grade payment infrastructure.

Its B2B platform, Rafiki, connects local fiat systems with stablecoin-based payment rails to improve speed and efficiency in cross-border settlement.

The network currently integrates with more than 249 commercial banks globally and 26 mobile money providers, including M-Pesa and Airtel Money, across 16 countries.

Growing demand for stablecoin settlement rails

Stablecoin-based settlement is increasingly being adopted by businesses seeking to avoid delays, foreign exchange volatility and high intermediary banking fees. Nala said its infrastructure enables real-time FX pricing and faster settlement at a lower cost.

Paul Brodie, Global Head of Investments at Liquidity, said “Our team structured a facility that accounts for Nala’s compliant stablecoin rails and rapid growth in emerging market corridors. This wasn’t a rigid venture debt model; it was customised directly around Nala’s real-time transactional flows and unique treasury requirements.”

Expansion plans

While Nala has not disclosed transaction volumes or revenue, it said it has a pipeline of major enterprise contracts expected to go live in the coming quarters.

The company added that the new financing ensures it can support large-scale settlement flows as adoption of its stablecoin-powered infrastructure continues to grow across global trade corridors.