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 govt officer, recognized fee reliability and international 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 difficult 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 permits prospects in Nigeria, Kenya, and Ghana to gather and ship cash, supported by liquidity preparations throughout a number of currencies.
The firm mentioned the infrastructure allows real-time settlement in a number of supported currencies, decreasing the necessity for businesses to supply FX by way of a number of intermediaries.
The drawback extends past Grey’s prospects. In October, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the worldwide financial institution for central banks, said that many payments between African nations nonetheless go by way of correspondent banking networks exterior the continent, growing prices and exposing businesses to operational dangers.
Other fee suppliers are additionally making an attempt to handle 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 cell 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 prospects transferring 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 tackle this, Grey supplies estimated fee supply instances 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, in keeping with 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 international forex accounts after discovering that prospects struggled to obtain worldwide payments within the first place.
Remote work accelerated demand for these companies, particularly amongst professionals incomes foreign exchange whereas dwelling 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 characteristic, which permits prospects to put aside cash for targets similar to training, journey, or main purchases. The firm is exploring extra advantages, together with credit score and life-style rewards.
The push displays Grey’s ambition to construct companies round prospects’ monetary actions moderately than merely serving to them obtain or switch cash.
Grey additionally confronted questions on the briefing about difficulties some prospects encounter when accessing international forex accounts and acquiring assist.
The firm mentioned it gives round the clock digital help and has a bodily workplace, though it considers on-line assist more practical for routing buyer points to its distributed groups.
Grey’s subsequent problem is proving that its increasing vary of companies can resolve these issues persistently.
