REasy, a pan-African fintech startup focused on trade finance, has secured $1.8 million in a pre-seed funding round to advance its mission of simplifying international payments for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across Africa. The round marks a major milestone for the company, coinciding with a regulatory breakthrough achieved in collaboration with the Bank of Central African States (BEAC). This achievement positions REasy as one of the first fintechs to co-design an official foreign exchange framework tailored to importing SMEs in Central Africa.
Investors and Strategic Backing
The round was backed by a strong network of African and international investors, including Launch Africa Ventures, Ingressive Capital, 54 Collective, Digital Africa, Techmind, and several regional angel groups such as Cameroon Angels Network and Dakar Network Angels. Notable individual investors include Christophe Chausson of Chausson Partners, Mathias Léopoldie of Julaya, Marième Diop of Dakar Network Angels, and Joël Nana Kontchou of Makoe Ventures. Their involvement reflects growing investor confidence in REasy’s potential to transform Africa’s fragmented trade payment infrastructure.
Solving Pain Points in Trade Finance
African importers face significant inefficiencies in cross-border transactions, with delays often ranging from a week to two, transaction costs averaging 5 to 8 percent, and fraud exposure reaching as high as 40 percent. Traditional banks also tend to exclude small trades below $50,000 from their financing structures, leaving SMEs underserved. REasy’s solution tackles these pain points by providing a compliant, fast, and transparent platform that allows small importers to execute cross-border payments instantly, even for transactions under $10,000.
Regulatory Breakthrough with BEAC
REasy’s collaboration with BEAC marks a historic step toward financial inclusion and trade transparency in Central Africa. The jointly developed framework allows compliant foreign exchange operations for SME-level transactions, a previously inaccessible segment due to regulatory and infrastructure constraints. The system ensures traceability, automated reporting, and adherence to capital flow controls, setting a new standard for digital trade compliance in the region.
How REasy Works
Founded in 2023, REasy bridges local African payment systems—such as Orange Money, MTN Mobile Money, and traditional bank transfers—with international platforms used by suppliers, including Alipay, WeChat Pay, UnionPay International, and wire transfers. This interoperability allows importers to pay suppliers abroad without relying on cumbersome intermediaries or incurring prohibitive fees. The company also plans to expand into adjacent services, offering customs brokerage and freight forwarding through the same platform to streamline the end-to-end trade process.
Founder and Customer Perspectives
“Our belief is simple: an African entrepreneur should be able to pay a foreign supplier as easily as a merchant in Europe or Asia,” said Brice Mba, co-CEO of REasy. The platform is already used by thousands of importers across Central Africa, particularly along the China-Cameroon corridor, which recorded $3.71 billion in imports in 2023. One user, Fabrice, an electronics trader in Douala, described the transformation: “Before REasy, paying my supplier in China took nearly two weeks with high fees and fraud risk. Today, payment is instant and my goods arrive within days.”
Investor Endorsements
Investors view REasy’s model as a game-changer in African trade digitization. “REasy’s BEAC regulatory breakthrough creates a defensible competitive moat—this is about unlocking billions in trade currently blocked by infrastructure gaps,” said Lina Kacyem, investment manager at Launch Africa. Similarly, Maya Horgan Famodu, founding partner at Ingressive Capital, highlighted the platform’s dual benefit: “REasy delivers a complete solution combining ease and security for importers, while ensuring compliance and traceability for regulators.”
Future Expansion
With the fresh capital, REasy plans to expand its footprint across key trade corridors linking Africa to Asia and Europe, strengthen its technological backbone, and further deepen its regulatory collaborations. The company’s presence in ecosystems such as STATION F, HEC Paris, and the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks underscores its international ambitions.
REasy’s $1.8 million pre-seed round is more than a funding milestone—it represents a structural shift in how small African importers can participate in global commerce. By merging regulatory innovation with practical payment technology, the startup is redefining trade finance accessibility across the continent. Its next phase will determine whether this vision of borderless, compliant African trade can scale beyond Central Africa and reshape cross-border transactions for the continent’s growing SME sector.