The financing round, which includes both equity and debt, was co-led by Polymorphic Capital with participation from other investors, including Octerra Capital, Faculty Group, and Trive Digital.

The funding will enable the company to expand its operations into Latin America and Southeast Asia, regions facing similar liquidity issues.

MANSA focuses on improving cash flow for payment providers by offering real-time liquidity solutions. Instead of traditional lending methods that require collateral, the company underwrites loans using transaction data, providing a more flexible and efficient approach.

“Our partnership with Tether is so consequential and why we’re working very closely together to make it the primary stablecoin in emerging markets,” said MANSA’s CEO, Mouloukou Sanoh.

Founded by Sanoh and Nkiru Uwaje, MANSA has quickly grown in the payments sector. Sanoh, an experienced investor in African fintechs, previously worked at web3 VC firm Adaverse, while Uwaje was formerly an innovation manager at SWIFT and led blockchain strategy for Dell in the UK and Ireland.

The startup’s model is particularly relevant in emerging markets where payment providers often struggle with liquidity shortages, leading to delayed transactions and increased costs. 

According to MANSA, cross-border payments are projected to reach $290.2 trillion annually by 2030, and inefficiencies in the system could result in huge financial losses for businesses.

Beyond Africa, where MANSA has been primarily active, the company is now targeting Latin America and Southeast Asia, aiming to provide the same liquidity solutions to businesses facing similar challenges. 

To support this expansion, it has secured $7 million in liquidity funding from institutions, including corporate investors, quantitative funds, and hedge funds.

MANSA reports strong growth since its launch in August 2024. The company’s transaction volume surged from $1.6 million in its first month to $11 million in January 2025, with a compounded monthly growth rate of 37.5%.

So far, MANSA has processed nearly $31 million in transactions and expects to reach a $1 billion total payment volume run rate this year.

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino stated that the stablecoin provider is “proud to collaborate with MANSA and support their efforts to reshape global payment infrastructure.”

In addition to its liquidity solutions, MANSA is investing in regulatory compliance. The company has brought on industry veterans, including the former head of HSBC North Asia and the chief legal officer of Franklin Templeton, to strengthen its oversight. 

MANSA’s compliance measures include AML checks, sanction screening, KYC, KYB, transaction monitoring, and blockchain analytics tools.

Moving forward, the company plans to expand beyond liquidity provision. “We’re starting by being the primary liquidity provider to the biggest payment companies across emerging markets,” Sanoh explained.

“From there, we can handle payouts and also offer additional services like foreign exchange. The goal is to create a one-stop payment platform where they can finance their payments, settle transactions instantly, and access foreign currency seamlessly—all in one place.”

With a growing client base that includes B2B payment platforms, virtual card providers, stablecoin infrastructure companies, forex platforms, and remittance firms, MANSA’s impact on the global payments landscape is expected to deepen.

The company claims that clients using its solutions have already seen a 30% increase in transaction volumes and a 10% boost in revenue.

Vitaly Spassky, managing partner, Polymorphic Capital, said Mansa is here to disrupt a massive traditional market with blockchain and the Web3 paradigm. “Polymorphic supports extraordinary founders. The Mansa team is up to this incredible challenge.”

Ashim Egunjobi, managing partner, Octerra Capital, also stated: “We invested in MANSA because of their bold, diverse, high-calibre team of visionary founders addressing critical challenges faced by payments companies in Emerging Markets. We firmly believe that decentralized finance and asset tokenization are game-changing frontier technologies. With immense market potential in emerging economies, MANSA is uniquely positioned to drive transformative impact and bridge the credit gap across Africa.”

“We are incredibly excited to have been the first investor in Mansa. Our decision to invest was driven primarily by our strong confidence in the leadership team, and we are certain they will continue to validate our belief. Additionally, we are thrilled about the future of crypto payments and Mansa’s potential to make transactions in emerging markets faster, cheaper, and more efficient,” Sebastian Cheek, head of Investment, Faculty Group

Shawn Tan, general partner, TRIVE Digital, commented that MANSA addresses a fundamental liquidity challenge in cross-border payments, leveraging stablecoins to create more efficient and accessible financial rails. “TRIVE Digital backs visionary founders building the future of Web3, and we are excited to support the MANSA team as they drive transformative impact in the global payments industry.”

This further thrusts Mansa’s mission to democratise financing access for African businesses, even as it leverages Base, a secure and cost-effective Ethereum Layer 2 blockchain developed by Coinbase, to deliver more efficient and accessible financial services. 

Mansa’s new offerings include innovative pools for remittance and stablecoin liquidity, helping African businesses secure more affordable capital.

The company’s approach allows venture-backed businesses to use a wide range of assets as collateral, significantly expanding the pool of potential borrowers. 

As institutional adoption of this model accelerates, Mansa’s innovative approach and strategic partnerships will play an important role in shaping the future of finance in emerging markets. 

With boots on the ground in Africa and the UK, Mansa works closely with African businesses to fuel their growth with trade finance and cross-border payments liquidity. 

“We’re thrilled to launch our new liquidity pool on Base,” said Mouloukou Sanoh, CEO and co-founder of Mansa.

“This move will help businesses overcome USD limitations and manual processes that have long-constrained growth. Our platform unlocks new sources of liquidity, directly addressing the credit gap in emerging markets.”

Emerging markets, particularly in Africa, face a substantial financing gap that hinders business growth and economic expansion. Timely and cutting-edge solutions like DeFi are essential for the continued growth of these rapidly advancing economies.

Mansa leverages blockchain technology to offer transparent and accessible means of trading and managing assets.

In connecting businesses with global investors, the platform is creating next-generation financial infrastructure that overcomes traditional barriers such as lack of financial services and FX constraints. 

This forward-thinking approach is particularly beneficial for regions like Africa, where such limitations have historically impacted growth.

Sanoh is said to have stepped down to launch Mansa, a new fintech for African businesses.

Mouloukou’s departure comes after a transformative year leading the company.

His leadership laid the foundation for Cassava’s accelerated growth in Africa. During his tenure, he cultivated a formidable network of collaborators, uniting prominent Web2 and Web3 brands such as Boomplay, Carry1st, Scooper, VSkit, Ficool, BoundlessPay, Stakefair, Katana Inu, Awujo, and others under the Cassava banner.

Reflecting on his departure, Mouloukou commented;

“The journey at Cassava Network has been nothing short of awe-inspiring. Our achievements in paving the way for Web3 in Africa speak volumes about the unyielding support from our team, board, and community leaders.”

Since its inception in 2021, Cassava Network has been an avant-garde force, driving blockchain infrastructure needed to transition Africa into the Web3 era. By introducing a digital identity system, multi-chain wallet, rewards platform, and NFTs, it has championed the migration from Web2 to Web3, fostering a thriving community along the way.

“It has been an exceptional privilege to contribute towards the Web3 renaissance across Africa. However, the time is ripe for a leadership transition at Cassava Network and for me to invest my efforts in a new venture,” Mouloukou shared.

As for his next chapter, Mouloukou Sanoh is turning his focus to the credit issue crippling SMEs in Africa. His new company, Mansa, is a protocol that addresses current DeFi lending protocols’ major shortcoming: the requirement for borrowers to provide an excess of cryptocurrency collateral. This requirement stifles potential borrowers globally.

Mansa’s innovative approach enables venture-backed businesses to leverage a myriad of assets as collateral, providing crypto access to a significantly larger pool of borrowers. By embracing this forward-thinking model, Mansa is poised to shatter the limitations of traditional financial systems and introduce a new era of decentralised finance.

Mansa’s goal is to “democratise access to financing for businesses in emerging markets,” providing tailored financing solutions to businesses through blockchain technology.

By connecting businesses with global investors and lenders, Mansa aims to bridge the gap between traditional financial systems and the evolving world of decentralised finance.

Mouloukou is also an Investment Manager at Adaverse, a $100 million fund backed by Emurgo, and a Vice President Emerging Markets at Everest Ventures Group, a global venture studio.

Additionally, he previously ran Mansa Capital, an investment advisory firm helping African startups raise funding. Past deals completed by Mr. Mouloukou include Crowdforce, Skygarden, Omnisient, Kwara and more.

As a global character who has lived in four countries, namely; China, Guinea, Netherlands and Belgium, Mouloukou has cultivated a culture of adaptability and an open minded nature.

He speaks in varying degrees of fluency, French, English, Mandarin Chinese and Mandingo.

Mouloukou has his eyes presently focused on Africa as he explains in this brief interview:

Do you plan to carry out more education and conversations around crypto, Metaverse and Blockchain Technology in Nigeria?

We aim to do bigger and more events throughout Africa and not only Nigeria. Education is key in the emerging tech space.

Although Nigeria is the biggest crypto market we have seen in Africa, we believe that there are opportunities everywhere on the continent; there are opportunities in Kenya, Ghana, and there are opportunities even in places like Sudan and Ethiopia.

We believe that Cassava Network as a global company has to reach everywhere. Nevertheless, we’re a global company with very strong African roots.

The plan is to dominate the African market and once we’ve dominated the African market we go on a global expansion to places like Southeast Asia and Latin America.

Now, Blockchain Technology, you have to look at the landscape of payments in regards to the African continent. So, number one is cost.

According to the World Bank it costs 11% to send money to Africa. I think in 2022 the figure was 6 billion dollars paid in fees to all these remittance providers like Western Union. First of all, that is ridiculously expensive.

Secondly, it’s a very slow process, like it takes up to 3 to 4 days. Sometimes, you can’t even send money to places like Nigeria because they’ve been blacklisted. So, sending money to Africa and within the African continent is extremely difficult because of all the different capital controls, but when you bring into consideration the Blockchain Technology then you see different use cases.

The most important is remittance as mentioned. You can send money from anywhere around the world to Africa in a matter of seconds. All you need is a crypto wallet and stablecoins.

Actually, you don’t even need stablecoins but stablecoins is the easiest form for sending money. You can send stablecoins. You can send and receive money because you have a crypto wallet and if you have a history of spending and receiving money, you can access loans.

So, let’s think about that farmer that is in the remote village in Kano State where the bank is 10km away. If he goes to the bank and asks for a loan in order to increase his crop, the bank is not going to give it to him because he has no financial history but if he has crypto wallet and he has been sending money back and forth, then he creates a financial history and from that he’s able to get a loan from many crypto companies and because he has a loan, he can increase his crop and eventually he can increase the livelihood for himself and his family.

There are many solutions we’re starting to see, such as crypto investment accounts like fixed accounts, just like savings accounts or like investment accounts, there are different things that the ecosystem and the current financial infrastructure on the continent has simply not been able to provide to the masses.

Cassava Network raised a sizable fund some time ago, but are you looking at raising more funds soon?

Yes, we raised funds and that goes to show different investors believe in what we’re building in the market. Secondly, it shows the attractiveness of African opportunities to global investors. Yes, we’re very happy to have all these investors on board with us.

Our token which was supposed to be released this year is on pause given market conditions. We have paused the release of our token till market conditions improve but I was talking to different utility providers, you can even stake our tokens to earn rewards and many other things.

So, for more information please keep your eyes on our various social media channels and you shall get more information.

Few weeks back, Cassava Network introduced the AfriMyth Avatar generators. So, how does it fit into your plans for the Nigerian or African market?

Perfect. So when you look at the AfriMyth Avatars, they are reflections of African mythology and are named based on traditional African mythology. So, together with the NFT collection, we wanted to showcase our African heritage to the world. But these avatars are more than just avatars. They are your digital identity, which allows you to access the Cassava rewards protocol.

Cassava Network’s interest is to harness the growing interest in Blockchain Technology across Africa by creating a stepping stone for users to enter the world of cryptocurrencies and Web3.

Also, with AfriMyth, we’re paying tribute to the rich and diverse people and their stories from across Africa and sharing them with the world. It’s also the first step on our journey towards widespread Web3 adoption as we look to roll out Cassava’s Web3 infrastructure over the coming months and years.

What is your plan for the coming year?

Our plan next year is simply to dominate the market, that’s the plan for next year. For the past few months, we’ve been seeing what the ecosystem needs and we’re going to focus more on what our users need.

Also, African crypto consumer demands, it’s going ​​​​to be exciting next year, you’ll see us collaborating with bigger artists. Definitely, you’ll see our presence beyond Nigeria. Over the next year I’m spending time in Kenya, Egypt, Ghana and Senegal, essentially all over the continent.

We’ll increase our hiring, we’d partner with more artists. We’d do more global exhibitions.

We have some plans to do exhibitions, like we’ve done in London, in Hong Kong, in Miami and even in other cities. We plan to partner with bigger names and partners.

There are few names already on board which I don’t want to reveal at this moment. What I can tell your readers is to watch out, it’s coming and we’re coming to provide better solutions for the everyday crypto user in Nigeria and in Africa.