An African fintech startup called Sika just raised USD 2 million to fix one of Africa’s biggest money problems: getting cash across borders is slow, expensive, and outdated.
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Here’s why you should care: if you send money home from abroad or your business buys goods from another African country, you pay hidden fees because the money bounces through banks in London or New York before reaching Ghana. Sika wants to cut out that middleman.
What is Sika doing?
Sika, founded in 2023 by fintech engineer Emmanuel Ashirifi, built something called ClearNet—a platform that lets African banks and businesses settle payments directly in their own currencies (cedis, naira, shillings, etc.) without routing everything through US dollars or euros first.
Think of it like this: instead of your money taking a detour to New York and back, it goes straight from one African bank to another. Fewer stops mean lower costs and faster transfers.
The company works behind the scenes with big banks, stock exchanges, and payment companies across Africa, Latin America, and Asia. It already handles clearing and settlement in more than 15 local currencies.
What does this mean for Ghana?
This could benefit Ghanaians in two ways. First, if you send money home from the US or UK, the fees could drop and the money could arrive faster. Second, if your business imports goods from Nigeria, Kenya, or Ivory Coast, those cross-border trades become cheaper to settle.
With a substantial diaspora community, better payment rails could mean more money reaches Ghanaian families instead of going to bank fees.
The funding came from Aruwa Capital Management, a West African investment firm that focuses on gender-inclusive companies. Sika has women in 50% of its senior executive team, which was part of why Aruwa backed it.
Why now?
Africa is pushing for deeper trade integration through the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). But the banking infrastructure hasn’t kept up. Countries are trading more with each other, but the money still moves like it’s 1995.
Sika plans to use the new funding to get more regulatory approvals, hire engineers, and add more currency corridors so it can handle even more of Africa’s cross-border cash flow.
What to watch: Track whether this actually lowers remittance fees for Ghanaians. Check MTN MoMo’s cross-border rates in the next 6-12 months—if platforms like Sika reshape the backend, consumer prices should eventually drop too.
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