Nigeria’s Paycrest raises $404k pre-seed to solve stablecoin-to-fiat liquidity gaps 

Paycrest, a US-headquartered financial technology company with Nigerian roots, has raised a $404,000 pre-seed round to build decentralised stablecoin-to-fiat settlement infrastructure.

The round drew participation from a mix of web3 and traditional VCs, Hashed Emergent, StarkWare, LAVA, Microtraction, Sunny Side Venture Partners, and a group of angel investors backing the company’s early execution.

The raise comes at a time when Africa’s pre-seed funding base remains under pressure. According to Africa: The Big Deal reveals that African pre-seed startups secured only $46.5 million across 281 deals in 2025. While the broader venture market showed growth, pre-seed funding accounted for a mere 1.5% of total capital deployed—a sharp contrast to mature markets like the U.S., where early-stage funding typically holds a 4% to 6% share.

Founded in 2024 by Nigerian software leaders Chibuotu Amadi and Francis Ocholi, Paycrest is focused on addressing long-standing challenges in cross-border payments, including fragmented liquidity, slow settlement, high transaction costs, and limited access to reliable rails.

The company’s model aligns with shifts triggered by Nigeria’s 2021 Central Bank restriction on direct crypto-to-bank transactions, which accelerated the rise of peer-to-peer settlement systems.

The startup’s architecture has already gained international traction. In late 2025, Paycrest was named a top 12 finalist in Base’s Batches 002 programme and secured a cash grant at Ethereum’s Devconnect event in Argentina, validating its model for high-speed, decentralized payment infrastructure.