The investment round was led by Al Mada Ventures, the venture capital arm linked to Morocco’s sovereign investment ecosystem and the parent company of Attijariwafa Bank.

Galaxy Ventures and Framework Ventures also participated as co-leads, alongside several investors focused on emerging markets and digital finance, including DFS Lab, Bitso, Airtm, Onigiri Capital, SNZ Capital, and Velocity.

The financing highlights growing investor interest in stablecoin infrastructure as African businesses and financial institutions search for faster and cheaper alternatives to traditional cross-border payment systems.

The company also attracted backing from notable figures in Africa’s technology and fintech ecosystem. Among the angel investors are Flutterwave co-founder Iyin Aboyeji, former Onafriq executive Gwera Kiwana, and Juicyway co-founder Justin Ziegler, alongside professionals from global fintech firms Stripe and Tala.

Checker says the new capital will help it strengthen its infrastructure network, which connects financial institutions to stablecoin liquidity providers, payment companies, and banking partners through a single API integration.

The startup is targeting a major challenge facing digital asset adoption in Africa: fragmented liquidity and expensive international payment rails.

While countries such as Nigeria have become global leaders in cryptocurrency usage, many businesses across the continent still face slow settlement processes, high foreign exchange costs, and limited access to efficient cross-border banking systems.

According to Chainalysis’ 2024 Global Crypto Adoption Index, Nigeria ranked among the world’s leading crypto markets, reflecting strong demand for alternative financial systems in emerging economies.

At the same time, regulators in countries including Kenya and South Africa have been developing licensing frameworks for Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs), signalling increasing institutional acceptance of digital asset businesses.

Checker’s platform allows banks, fintech firms, and neobanks to access services such as stablecoin settlements, treasury management, foreign exchange tools, and credit facilities through one connection.

The company says this can significantly reduce transaction costs and settlement delays that often affect trade corridors between Africa, China, and the United States.

Isaac Umejiaku, Checker’s Head of Africa Sales, said the company is positioning itself as foundational infrastructure for the growing stablecoin economy.

“We’re building the network-of-networks infrastructure for the stablecoin era,” he said, adding that a single integration allows African financial institutions to connect with multiple payment providers and global banking networks while lowering fees and improving settlement speed.

The platform is also designed to support consumer-focused digital banking products, including savings services and low-cost remittance solutions.

Larger financial institutions can use the infrastructure to access compliant foreign exchange and trading products aligned with regulatory requirements in markets that are formalising digital asset rules.

Al Mada Ventures said Checker’s technology addresses one of the key obstacles limiting the wider adoption of stablecoins: access to large-scale liquidity and efficient fiat currency conversion.

“The primary barrier to scalability for the stablecoin industry is access to liquidity at scale,” said Omar Laalej, Managing Director at Al Mada Ventures.

He noted that Checker’s orchestration system helps organise fragmented liquidity into a more programmable and compliant network.

The company says it has processed more than $3 billion in transaction volume since launch and currently supports 75 currencies. Its services are already active in Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, and several Francophone West African markets.

Checker plans to use the funding to expand payment coverage globally, develop embedded lending and borrowing tools, and introduce AI-powered solutions for treasury management and operational automation.

Chief Executive Officer Jack Chong said the investment will help the company accelerate efforts to modernise global foreign exchange and payment systems for institutions operating across emerging and developed markets alike.