Grey, the Y Combinator-backed cross-border payments firm, says it has constructed direct forex conversion routes to assist African businesses pay suppliers throughout borders with out first changing their cash into US {dollars}, because it expands its companies for businesses buying and selling throughout the continent.
Speaking at a media briefing with journalists on the sidelines of Moonshot by TechCabal 2026 in Lagos, Nigeria, on Thursday, Idorenyin Obong, Grey’s co-founder and chief government officer, recognized fee reliability and overseas change (FX) liquidity as two main challenges businesses face when making worldwide transactions.
Payments between African nations can contain a number of forex conversions. For occasion, a Nigerian enterprise paying a provider in Kenya might have to convert naira into US {dollars} earlier than exchanging it for Kenyan shillings, including one other step to an already sophisticated transaction.
“Most times, if you’re trading within Africa, there’s always some form of intermediary currency,” Obong mentioned. “We’ve built out these currency pairs, these exotic currency pairs, such that you never have to go in between to the USD.”
Obong mentioned Grey has invested in fee infrastructure that enables clients in Nigeria, Kenya, and Ghana to gather and ship cash, supported by liquidity preparations throughout a number of currencies.
The firm mentioned the infrastructure permits real-time settlement in a number of supported currencies, lowering the necessity for businesses to supply FX by a number of intermediaries.
The drawback extends past Grey’s clients. In October, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the worldwide financial institution for central banks, said that many payments between African nations nonetheless move by correspondent banking networks outdoors the continent, rising prices and exposing businesses to operational dangers.
Other fee suppliers are additionally making an attempt to deal with the issue. The Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS), developed by Afreximbank in partnership with African establishments, has been increasing native forex fee infrastructure.
In February, it partnered with Kenya’s Pesalink community to attach regional payments with Kenyan banks and cellular cash suppliers.
Reducing forex conversion steps is just one a part of the issue for Grey. Businesses additionally want assurance that payments will attain suppliers inside an anticipated timeframe, notably when delays can disrupt procurement and buying and selling relationships.
Obong mentioned clients shifting quantities as little as $50, and bigger quantities reaching $1 million, can expertise uncertainty over whether or not funds will attain their vacation spot when wanted. To deal with this, Grey offers estimated fee supply occasions and says it has invested in infrastructure to enhance the reliability of its worldwide payouts.
“We spent the last six years building the infrastructure to ensure that we’re delivering at the last mile at 99.99% to our customers,” Obong mentioned.
In February, Grey expanded into payments and settlement for businesses, as its client transaction volumes grew. During the briefing, Obong disclosed that the corporate had processed greater than 40 million transactions and almost $5 billion in payments since inception.
Grey Business, its multi-currency platform for startups and small businesses, has processed almost $100 million since launching in February, based on the corporate. By June, the corporate mentioned that the platform had processed $61.4 million in its first 4 months, partly pushed by demand for stablecoin-based payments.
The firm has additionally expanded payouts to China, permitting businesses to pay abroad suppliers in Chinese yuan.
Beyond enterprise payments, Grey is making an attempt to resolve one other drawback: what occurs after people obtain cash from overseas.
Obong mentioned the corporate initially launched in 2020 as a forex change service however expanded into overseas forex accounts after discovering that clients struggled to obtain worldwide payments within the first place.
Remote work accelerated demand for these companies, particularly amongst professionals incomes foreign exchange whereas residing in African markets.
“Most of our customers were using Grey to receive their foreign salary. And so we decided to build what I would call simply a salary account for these customers,” he mentioned.
That perception led the corporate to construct Paycheck, the wage product Grey launched on Wednesday. The service permits professionals incomes in {dollars}, kilos, and euros to obtain and handle their salaries, with options designed to separate cash supposed for spending and saving.
Obong mentioned Paycheck additionally integrates with Pouch, Grey’s financial savings function, which permits clients to put aside cash for objectives comparable to schooling, journey, or main purchases. The firm is exploring further advantages, together with credit score and life-style rewards.
The push displays Grey’s ambition to construct companies round clients’ monetary actions quite than merely serving to them obtain or switch cash.
Grey additionally confronted questions on the briefing about difficulties some clients encounter when accessing overseas forex accounts and acquiring assist.
The firm mentioned it presents round the clock digital help and has a bodily workplace, though it considers on-line assist simpler for routing buyer points to its distributed groups.
Grey’s subsequent problem is proving that its increasing vary of companies can remedy these issues persistently.
