Nala secures $50 million credit facility to expand stablecoin payment network

Tanzanian payments infrastructure company NALA has secured an initial $25 million credit facility from AI-driven private credit firm Liquidity, with an option to scale the financing to at least $50 million as the company expands its stablecoin-powered cross-border payment operations.

The facility was arranged through Mars Growth Capital, a joint venture between Liquidity and Japan’s MUFG Bank, and is expected to provide working capital for NALA’s growing payment infrastructure business without requiring the company to raise additional equity.

NALA said the financing will primarily be used to pre-fund customer accounts across multiple payment corridors as transaction volumes continue to rise across its stablecoin settlement network.

The company added that it still retains more than half of the $40 million equity funding it raised in 2024, allowing it to use the debt facility strategically while avoiding further shareholder dilution.

Chief Executive Officer Benjamin Fernandes described the financing as critical to supporting the company’s rapid growth, noting that payment volumes had at times outpaced NALA’s ability to pre-fund transactions efficiently.

“At some point our business was more than doubling every other quarter, we grew faster than we could handle pre-funding for single-direction payments and everything broke,” Fernandes said.

Stablecoin payments drive rapid growth

NALA has evolved from a Tanzania-founded remittance startup into a broader stablecoin infrastructure provider serving businesses and consumers across Africa, Europe, and the United States.

Its B2B payments platform, Rafiki, launched in 2024 and reportedly grew from zero to $1 billion in transaction volume within 18 months.

The platform currently connects to 249 banks and 26 mobile money services across 16 countries, allowing businesses to move money through a single API integrated with local payout rails.

NALA said demand for compliant stablecoin on- and off-ramp infrastructure has fueled rapid e

xpansion, with the company claiming fivefold business growth and a tenfold increase in revenue over the past year.

Enterprise clients using Rafiki include MoneyGram, TransferGo, and Cadana.

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The financing comes amid accelerating global adoption of stablecoin-based settlements, particularly for business-to-business payments. Industry estimates cited in the report showed stablecoins processed about $33 trillion in transaction volume in 2025, surpassing Visa and Mastercard combined.

Nala bets on enterprise contracts and regulatory expansion

NALA said the new facility would help onboard additional enterprise clients and support expansion into new payment corridors across Africa and Asia.

Earlier this year, the company partnered with payments infrastructure provider Noah to launch a stablecoin settlement network designed to allow businesses to collect US dollars and pay out local currencies within minutes.

The network combines regulated virtual dollar accounts with NALA’s stablecoin infrastructure and operates independently of traditional banking hours.

Despite its growth, the company faces increasing competition from other stablecoin infrastructure firms, including Bridge, BVNK, and Conduit, all of which are racing to build cross-border settlement systems for emerging markets.

NALA also continues to navigate evolving digital asset regulations across African and Asian markets, where compliance frameworks remain fragmented and subject to rapid policy changes.

Founded in 2017 by Benjamin Fernandes, NALA initially operated as a local money transfer platform in Tanzania before pivoting into remittances and infrastructure payments. The company is now headquartered in New York and operates across 16 countries through its consumer app and Rafiki enterprise platform.