Klasha
“Can a single API own the cross-border payments rail between Africa and Asia?”
Founded2018
HQLagos, Nigeria / San Francisco, USA
FoundersJessica Anuna
Total raised$6.5M
Latest roundSeed extension, 2024 ($2M)
IndustryFintech / Cross-border payments
The story
Founded 2018 as a consumer-facing cross-border checkout helping Africans pay global merchants in local currencies. Pivoted toward B2B cross-border infrastructure (collections, payouts, virtual accounts, wire) by 2022-2024, then leaned into Africa<>Asia corridors (notably NGN/KES/GHS <> CNY) with the 2024 raise and Hangzhou office — positioning as the embedded cross-border payments rail for trade between emerging markets.
Product timeline
2018
Klasha founded by Jessica Anuna to enable African consumers to buy from global merchants· founding
2021
Raised $2.4M seed led by Greycroft to scale cross-border commerce APIs· funding
2022
Raised additional $2.1M from Amex Ventures (their first African investment) and Global Ventures· funding
2024
Raised $2M extension and opened Hangzhou, China office to expand B2B payment rails into Asia· pivot
The stack
4 layers disclosed in Klasha’s embedded-finance stack
Payments / PSP
Klasha Pay (self-operated)Klasha Payments API (self-operated)
Banking / BaaS
in the full report
FX & payouts
in the full report
Accounting
in the full report
Accounting gap: significant
7 more providers across 3 layers, with confidence-scored evidence and source URLs, are in the Embedded Finance Index report.