Problem

Cleva addresses the difficulty African freelancers, remote workers, creators, entrepreneurs, and businesses face when getting paid internationally and preserving the value of their income. Local-currency volatility and depreciation can rapidly erode purchasing power—Cleva says the Nigerian naira lost nearly 70% of its value in 2023—while receiving money from overseas often involves complicated payment rails, high fees, and limited access to stable currencies.

The killer use case is a Nigerian or other African professional who earns dollars from a remote employer or international client but needs a simple way to receive, hold, and use that money without immediately converting it into depreciating local currency. Cleva’s reported 0.9% deposit fee, capped at $20, is designed to undercut competitors that charged an uncapped 1% on incoming funds, while users can convert or send money home when needed.

Product / Service

Cleva is an app-based USD banking and cross-border payments platform. Users complete KYC, create a USD account, and receive ACH or wire payments from employers and clients; they can also receive USDT and USDC into a Cleva wallet. The product lets them hold dollars, convert currencies, spend globally with a virtual USD card, transfer funds to other Cleva users, and send money to bank or mobile-money accounts across African countries including Nigeria, Ghana, and Uganda.

The service combines payments, foreign-exchange conversion, remittances, and lightweight financial utility in one consumer app. Users can fund accounts by debit card, exchange currencies, earn Cleva Points, and pay certain bills for family members. Cleva operates through licensed financial and payment partners rather than presenting itself as a conventional bank: its U.S. payments entity is registered with FinCEN and its Nigerian payouts are powered by a CBN-licensed international money-transfer operator. The benefit is faster access to international income, lower friction in moving money across borders, and the ability to keep savings in USD until conversion is advantageous.

Market

Cleva competes in fintech categories spanning USD banking for emerging markets, cross-border payments, digital remittances, and neobanking for freelancers and globally connected consumers. It began with Nigerian users but is pursuing a broader African and diaspora opportunity; the company has identified Ghana, Uganda, and South Africa as expansion markets. Its competitive set includes Geegpay and Payday for receiving international earnings, as well as Flutterwave Send, Chipper Cash, LemFi, and Afriex in remittances and cross-border transfers.

Cleva is not pre-revenue. TechCrunch reported that it raised $1.5 million in pre-seed funding, joined Y Combinator’s Winter 2024 batch, processed more than $1 million in monthly payments within four months of launch, and was growing revenue month over month. The company later reported more than 500,000 customers in Nigeria by August 2025, while its Google Play listing showed 1M+ downloads, a 4.7 rating, and more than 8,000 reviews in July 2026. These figures indicate meaningful adoption, although the customer and download counts are company or platform-reported rather than audited financial metrics.