South Africa's Ezeebit Closes $2 Million Seed Round With Founder Collective to Scale Stablecoin Payments

Ezeebit, a South African crypto payments infrastructure startup, has raised $2.05 million in seed funding to expand its stablecoin-based payment network across South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria.

Funding to Drive Product Development and Expansion

Ezeebit, a South African stablecoin and cryptocurrency payment infrastructure company, has successfully closed a $2.05 million (R34.9 million) seed funding round to accelerate its expansion across Africa. The round was led by Raba Partnership, an earlier backer of Nigerian fintech firm Flutterwave, and included participation from major U.S.-based venture capital firm Founder Collective.

The funding will be used to scale product development and merchant adoption in South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria, as well as expand strategic partnerships with banks, payment service providers and telecommunications companies.

According to a local report, Ezeebit is addressing a significant gap in the African payment landscape by connecting millions of cryptocurrency-holding consumers with merchants tied to slow, expensive traditional payment rails.

“What’s happening in Africa is extraordinary. Millions of people hold crypto but can’t spend it; merchants need faster, cheaper rails, but legacy systems keep them locked out,” said David Frankel, co-founder of Founder Collective and a South African Internet pioneer. “Ezeebit is building the bridge.”

Since launching in 2023, Ezeebit has processed more than 30,000 transactions, totaling millions of dollars in gross merchandise value, with clients including Istore, Scoin, Diesel, Le Creuset and Amiri. The company enables merchants to accept cryptocurrency payments with instant stablecoin settlement, eliminating the risk of cryptocurrency volatility. As per the report, Ezeebit offers significantly lower fees, typically 1% or less, which the company claims results in a 68% savings compared to traditional card payments.

“We bridge this gap by connecting decentralized and traditional finance with a compliant stablecoin settlement layer,” explained Daniel Katz, co-founder and CEO of Ezeebit.

The investment comes as Africa experiences a convergence of factors making stablecoin payments an ideal solution. To start with, Sub-Saharan Africa is the world’s most expensive region for money movement, making crypto rails a compelling alternative, while lingering inflation in some countries also fuels demand for the stability of stablecoins.

Furthermore, the region’s negligible credit card penetration is offset by widespread mobile money adoption, which has made hundreds of millions comfortable with digital payments via QR codes and account-to-account transfers. The region also received more than $205 billion in onchain value between July 2024 and June 2025—a 52% annual increase, making it the third-fastest-growing crypto region globally.

Read more: Study: Bitcoin Dominates Crypto Purchases in Nigeria, South Africa

Amanda Herson, general partner at Founder Collective, praised the infrastructure: “They’ve built real infrastructure, including wallet orchestration, instant hedging, and compliance tooling, that makes crypto payments work like tapping a card.”

The funding round also included strategic angel investors such as Terry Angelos and David De Picciotto, underscoring strong confidence from the global fintech community in Ezeebit’s compliant approach to rebuilding the African payment stack.

FAQ 💡

• What did Ezeebit announce? The South African crypto payments startup raised $2.05M to scale its stablecoin payment infrastructure across Africa.
• Where is the expansion focused? Funds will accelerate merchant adoption and partnerships in South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria.
• What problem is Ezeebit solving? It connects crypto‑holding consumers with merchants stuck on slow, costly traditional payment rails.
• Why does this matter for Africa? Stablecoin payments offer cheaper, faster settlement in a region with high remittance costs, inflation pressures, and strong mobile‑money adoption.