After three years of operating quietly under the radar, African fintech startup Juicyway is emerging from stealth mode, revealing impressive growth figures and a bold new direction. The company has also raised $3 million in a pre-seed funding round led by P1 Ventures, an early-stage African investor, with additional participation from Ventures Platform, Future Africa, Magic Fund, Microtraction, and various angel investors.
Founded in 2021 by Ife Johnson and Justin Ziegler, Juicyway is a fintech company based in Africa that leverages stablecoin technology to facilitate fast, affordable cross-border payments. The company claims that it has processed over $1.3 billion in transactions—without a single marketing campaign or public-facing product launch.
Juicyway’s unique approach to growing its business has allowed it to organically gain traction within the African market. With more than 25,000 transactions completed, the fintech has amassed a significant user base of 4,000 businesses, many of which are household names across industries ranging from fintech to energy. The company’s quietly achieved milestones include partnerships with major corporates like Bolt, IHS, and Mocoh SA, alongside top-tier fintechs such as PiggyVest, Bamboo, and Afriex.
While traditional payment platforms have long enabled cross-border transactions by directly converting fiat currencies into local currencies, Juicyway is part of a new wave of fintech platforms powered by stablecoin technology. This allows businesses to bypass the costly inefficiencies of traditional methods. By purchasing stablecoins like USDC or USDT using funds from U.S. bank accounts, the fintech offers a more flexible, faster, and often cheaper method for cross-border payments. These stablecoins are then sent to digital wallets, where users have the option to hold the digital currency or convert it to their local fiat currency.
One of the key use cases for this technology is remittance services, where businesses send funds from developed markets to recipients in emerging markets like Nigeria. Instead of using conventional payment routes, these businesses can utilize Juicyway’s stablecoin infrastructure to inject liquidity and set their own exchange rates—empowering both companies and individuals with more control over their cross-border financial transactions.
Like other platforms utilizing stablecoin technology, Juicyway has obtained money transmitter licenses to operate in multiple countries, including the U.S., the U.K., Canada, and Nigeria. This is due to the global regulatory uncertainty surrounding the issuance and use of crypto and stablecoins. In the coming years, the fintech may seek similar licenses in other African nations. Its goal is to become the go-to platform for individuals and businesses across Africa to easily convert African currencies into local ones and vice versa.
The fintech generates revenue through processing and payment fees, with take rates ranging from 0.2% to 10% on certain transactions. In the future, it plans to expand its income streams by earning interest on customer balances
