Walapay Raises $4.6M to Expand Global Payments Infrastructure Across Emerging Markets

Global payments infrastructure company Walapay has raised $4.6 million in seed funding as it looks to expand the network of licences, banking relationships and local payment rails behind its cross-border payments business.

The round was led by Generative Ventures, with participation from Commerce Ventures, Polygon Labs, Verda Ventures, NGC Ventures, FGV Capital, AAF Management, Jsquare, Knollwood Investment Advisory, Contribution Capital, Reflexive Capital, Big Brain Holdings, Seven Capital Ventures and other investors.

According to Walapay’s funding announcement, the company plans to use the new capital to expand its licensing footprint, deepen banking partnerships and grow its team.

Walapay is particularly focused on the parts of the world where moving money across borders can still involve multiple intermediaries, expensive foreign exchange and fragmented local payment systems.

That includes markets across Africa, Latin America, Asia and the Middle East.

What Is Walapay?

Walapay is an API-based money movement platform built for businesses rather than primarily for individual consumers.

Its customers include fintech companies, payment service providers, financial institutions, marketplaces and businesses that need to collect or send money across countries.

Instead of integrating separately with a bank in one country, a payments company in another and a stablecoin provider somewhere else, Walapay is trying to place several of those functions behind a single integration.

The company’s developer documentation says businesses can use its infrastructure to create virtual accounts, move money between currencies, make payments, carry out customer verification and work with both traditional money and stablecoins.

What Will Walapay Do With the $4.6 Million?

This is not a funding round centred on launching another consumer crypto app.

A large part of the money is going into the less visible infrastructure that allows payment products to work.

Walapay says it plans to invest in more licences, additional banking relationships and team expansion.

You can build an excellent payment interface, but eventually the money still has to arrive in a bank account, mobile wallet or another payment system in the recipient’s country.

Generative Ventures Managing Partner Lex Sokolin described that problem in the funding announcement as the “last mile” of payments.

Walapay’s strategy is to build or control more of those local connections instead of depending entirely on layers of other intermediaries.

Walapay Says It Is Processing $2.5 Billion in Annualised Payment Volume

Walapay says its platform is currently processing approximately $2.5 billion in annualised total payment volume, or TPV.

This means the company’s current transaction activity, if maintained over a full year, would amount to roughly $2.5 billion.

The company lists customers including Kast, Nuvei and Bastion in its funding announcement.

Co-founder Tom Borgers has also said Walapay is serving more than 100,000 customers, although that figure is company-reported.

Those numbers help explain why investors may be interested despite Walapay still being at the seed stage.

Stablecoins Are Part of the Infrastructure

Walapay is not purely a stablecoin company.

Its infrastructure combines traditional banking rails and blockchain-based money.

According to Walapay’s documentation, the platform supports conventional bank payments alongside stablecoins including USDC and USDT.

Businesses can use different combinations depending on what they are trying to achieve.

For example, Walapay documents four broad types of money movement:

• fiat to fiat
• fiat to stablecoin
• stablecoin to fiat
• stablecoin to stablecoin

That means a transaction does not necessarily have to begin and end with crypto.

A business could potentially collect normal currency in one market, move value using stablecoin infrastructure and then pay the recipient in a local bank currency at the other end.

That is increasingly how stablecoins are being used in payments.

The blockchain can sit in the middle without becoming the product the customer sees.

Stablecoins Can Help Bridge Markets

Stablecoins become useful in this model because they provide another way to move value between financial systems.

Walapay’s documentation currently supports USDC and USDT across blockchain networks including Ethereum, Solana and Polygon, alongside additional networks depending on the stablecoin.

Its fiat-to-stablecoin documentation shows how businesses can convert conventional currencies into stablecoins, while its stablecoin-to-fiat infrastructure handles the opposite direction.

Consider a fintech receiving money in one country and paying customers in another.

Instead of keeping large amounts of cash prefunded with several different banking partners, stablecoins can potentially provide a common settlement asset between those systems.

The final customer may still receive naira, shillings, pesos or another familiar currency.

That is why stablecoins are increasingly becoming invisible infrastructure.

The customer may never need to know that a blockchain was involved.

Virtual Accounts Are Another Piece of the Product

Walapay also provides virtual accounts.

Its developer documentation says businesses can create multi-currency accounts for customers covering both fiat currencies and stablecoins.

Those accounts can be configured so that money arriving in one currency is held as that currency or converted into something else.

For example, a fintech could build an account where a customer receives local money but automatically converts part of the balance into USDC.

That type of infrastructure is particularly useful for payment companies, payroll platforms and businesses working across multiple currencies.

Instead of building every banking integration themselves, they can use Walapay as part of the backend.

Who Founded Walapay?

Walapay was founded by brothers Tom Borgers and Dimitri Borgers.

Tom Borgers said the idea came partly from experiencing how frustrating international money movement could still be despite advances in fintech.

The founders initially looked at building an application for international payments but concluded that the larger problem existed deeper in the financial infrastructure.

That pushed the company toward building the rails instead.

In a post discussing the funding round, Tom said the company decided it needed to tackle licensing, banking rails and liquidity rather than simply building another interface on top of existing systems.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much did Walapay raise?

Walapay raised $4.6 million in seed funding.

Who led Walapay’s funding round?

The round was led by Generative Ventures, with participation from Commerce Ventures, Polygon Labs, AAF Management, NGC Ventures, Jsquare and several other investors.

What will Walapay use the funding for?

The company says it will expand its licensing footprint, deepen banking relationships and grow its team.

What does Walapay do?

Walapay provides global payment infrastructure that allows fintechs, financial institutions and businesses to create accounts, collect funds, convert currencies and make cross-border payments through one API.

Does Walapay use stablecoins?

Yes. Its infrastructure supports USDC and USDT alongside traditional currencies and bank payment rails.

Does Walapay operate in Africa?

Yes. Walapay’s current documentation lists payment rails in countries including Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Tanzania and South Africa. It also operates across several markets outside Africa.

How much payment volume does Walapay process?

Walapay says it is processing approximately $2.5 billion in annualised total payment volume. This refers to the rate of transaction volume annualised from current activity and should not be confused with confirmed lifetime transaction volume.

Who founded Walapay?

Walapay was founded by brothers Tom Borgers and Dimitri Borgers.

Is Walapay a crypto company?

It is better described as a global payments infrastructure company. Stablecoins form part of its payment network, but the platform also connects traditional banks, fiat currencies and local payment systems.