LAGOS, May 14 – Chimoney, the Nigerian-founded cross-border payments startup backed by Techstars, has shut down operations after running out of capital, ending a four-year push to build payment infrastructure for businesses moving money across Africa, North America and Latin America.
In a May 1 operational email to customers, the Canada-based fintech said it had stopped all new transactions and integrations and had begun refunding customer balances, marking an abrupt end for businesses that depended on its API-driven payment rails.
Founded in 2022 by Uchi Uchibeke, Chimoney positioned itself as a business-focused payments infrastructure provider, allowing companies to pay freelancers and vendors in 41 currencies through a single API supporting bank transfers, mobile money, airtime, gift cards and stablecoin off-ramps.
The startup joined Techstars Toronto in 2023, a milestone that placed it among emerging African fintechs seeking global scale through accelerator-backed growth.
Chimoney raised about $280,000 in disclosed funding, according to Crunchbase, although Uchibeke said total capital and grant support was closer to $1 million.
Its closure leaves customers searching for replacement providers while highlighting a wider operational risk in startup-dependent financial infrastructure, where the collapse of a single platform can disrupt payment channels for multiple businesses.
The shutdown also adds to growing pressure on smaller fintechs navigating tighter venture funding conditions, rising operating costs and increasing demands for scale in the competitive cross-border payments market.
