TechPression

Tag: Mansa

  • Tether supports MANSA’s cross-border payment solutions with $10 million

    Tether supports MANSA’s cross-border payment solutions with $10 million

    On Thursday, MANSA, a fintech company focused on cross-border payments, announced the successful completion of a $10 million funding round led by Tether, the issuer of the USDT stablecoin. 

    This funding aims to address liquidity challenges faced by payment providers, particularly in emerging markets.

    Read also: Former Leatherback CEO Ibitade launches rival payments firm, Prune

    Funding led by Tether to solve liquidity challenges

    The funding round included $3 million from a pre-seed investment co-led by Tether and Polymorphic Capital, with additional contributions from Octerra Capital, Faculty Group, and Trive Digital. 

    The remaining $7 million was secured as liquidity financing from various institutional investors. MANSA plans to use these funds to expand its operations into Latin America and Southeast Asia, which are known for their liquidity issues in cross-border transactions.

    Mouloukou Sanoh, CEO and Co-Founder of MANSA expressed enthusiasm about the funding: “Securing $10 million in pre-seed and liquidity funding marks a significant milestone in our mission to transform the way money moves. 

    By bringing payments on-chain and leveraging efficient liquidity solutions, we are addressing challenges in cross-border transactions—making payments faster, cheaper, and more reliable worldwide”.

    Read also: e& Enterprise signs 3-year deal with PayPal to boost digital payments for UAE businesses

    Innovative solutions to solve liquidity challenges

    MANSA’s platform utilises stablecoins to provide instant liquidity for payment companies. This approach allows businesses to settle transactions quickly and efficiently, reducing operational costs associated with traditional fiat methods. 

    Sanoh emphasised the importance of on-chain liquidity for instant settlements: “Payments are moving on chain, but in order for payments to move on chain you need to have the on-chain liquidity to be able to settle instantly”.

    Since its launch in August 2024, MANSA has processed over $27 million in transactions. To extend its reach, the company is focused on creating partnerships with payment providers across Africa, Asia, and South America. 

    The newly acquired funds will enhance MANSA’s liquidity infrastructure and support its goal of providing seamless payment solutions globally.

    Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether, highlighted the alignment between Tether’s mission and MANSA’s objectives: “MANSA’s vision for addressing liquidity challenges in cross-border payments aligns with our mission to create a more efficient and inclusive financial system”. 

  • Mansa, Big Cabal Media work to promote Moonshot tech conference

    Mansa, Big Cabal Media work to promote Moonshot tech conference

    Mansa, a free streaming platform for black content located in the US, has teamed up with Big Cabal Media, the parent company of TechCabal, to promote its tech conference, Moonshot.

    The parent business of TechCabal, Big Cabal Media, has collaborated with Mansa, the free streaming platform with ads that funded $8 million in April, to promote its yearly tech conference, Moonshot, to Mansa’s US audience. Established by digital entrepreneur Zak Tanjeloff and actors David Oyelowo, Chike Okonkwo, and Nate Parker, this is the first collaboration Mansa is revealing to support black-owned companies on its platform. 

    When unsold ad inventory is available, Mansa will use it to freely advertise these companies. Pre-roll, mid-roll, 15- and 30-second commercials will all be included. Once the company emerged from stealth eight months ago, sessions now last between sixty and sixty-five minutes on average.

    “We are thrilled to partner with Big Cabal Media, a pioneering force in African digital media,” said David Oyelowo, co-founder of Mansa and three-time Golden Globe winner. 

    “At Mansa, we believe in the power of our voices and innovative content. This partnership is a testament to our commitment to showcasing our best and brightest and fostering a vibrant global community.”

    Read also: MediaTek, Airtel Nigeria to improve mobile connectivity in Nigeria

    The impact of the last Moonshot conference

    The leading tech conference in Africa, Moonshot by TechCabal, gathers innovators and thought leaders from all over the continent for two days in Lagos to discuss the newest trends and advancements in African technology. The conference expands upon TechCabal’s extensive coverage of the tech sector in Africa. After increasing its readership from 390,000 in January to one million in October, the journal saw its biggest monthly audience size in its ten-year history.

    Mansa was established to provide black audiences—who account for over 40% of viewers of advertising-supported video-on-demand—with access to black content. The goal of Mansa, which has thousands of hours of licenced content spread across dozens of channels and tens of millions of minutes broadcast to date, is to tell more black stories, so highlighting African businesses makes sense. 

    Previous deeds of Big Cabal Media

    In 2022, African digital media startup Big Cabal Media (BCM) revealed a $2.3 million Seed funding round, reaffirming its dedication to continuing to create compelling and credible media products and brands. Future Africa and Unicorn Capital Partners, two previous investors, participated in the new funding round. Participating were new investors like Luminate and Mac Venture Capital.

    “We are delighted to support Big Cabal Media at a pivotal moment. Independent tech media like BCM are key pillars of society,” said Abdul Noormohamed, Vice-president Africa at Luminate.  

    “At Luminate, we are convinced that these digital media disruptors will continue to create engaging content and thereby contribute to the political and societal change we all want to see.”

    With just over $600,000 in funding raised before this round, BCM has developed media and tech companies. With over 170,000 newsletter subscribers, over 30 million monthly readers across platforms, and a 225% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) between 2018 and 2021, its two flagship publications, TechCabal and Zikoko, are highly influential. 

    TechCabal was purposefully created in 2013 by Bankole Oluwafemi to cover the developing Nigerian tech scene. The publication initially only covered the Nigerian startup scene, but it quickly began covering all of Africa. The publication features stories of different players in the digital economy as well as startup fundraises, product launches, expansions, and regulatory battles.