Nomba, the digital bank built for businesses, has raised a $3 million debt facility through CardinalStone Finance Company Limited to expand its cross-border payments infrastructure out of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The funding gives Nomba more dollar liquidity to deploy through its banking relationships in Hong Kong and Singapore, positioning its DRC operations as a base for settling trade between Central Africa and Asia faster.
Cross-border trade is one of the fastest-growing parts of the African economy, but the infrastructure behind it hasn’t kept pace. Payments get stuck, currency access is unreliable, and settlement can take days. Over the past 18 months, Nomba has built infrastructure to close that gap, combining banking rails, global payment access, and local market knowledge so businesses can move money across borders as easily as they move it at home. Nomba is using its DRC business as a bridge into Central and East Africa, with Zambia and Uganda next in line.
Nomba processes more than $480 million a month in cross-border payments across its DRC operations and its Canadian-licensed money service business. The company is now targeting more than $1 billion in monthly cross-border volume, and is preparing to raise a further $20 million to $50 million in the coming months to power more of these trades. Nomba is profitable across the group, including its Nigeria and DRC operations, giving it a strong base to fund this expansion.
Chief Executive Officer, Nomba, Yinka Adewale, said: “African businesses are trading more with the rest of the world every year, but the infrastructure to support that trade is still catching up. This facility gives us more room to move — more liquidity, more corridors, faster settlement. It’s also a strong signal of confidence in what we’re building for the next generation of African businesses. We plan to keep scaling our cross-border infrastructure this year, expanding into new African markets and deepening the payment links between Africa and its trading partners in Asia.”
MD, CardinalStone Finance, Ayoola Adeola, said: “This transaction reflects our confidence in the growth opportunity presented by cross-border payments, and the role innovative financial infrastructure can play in connecting African businesses to global markets. We are pleased to have structured this $3 million debt facility to support Nomba’s expansion as it builds capacity across key Africa–Asia trade corridors.”
