On the 14th of November, during a press conference, executives at Due Network announced plans to officially enter the Nigerian market. The launch, which is slated for later this month will enable Nigerians and Nigeria-based businesses to carry out cross-border payments via a couple of stablecoins and other international currencies to start with.

Moving too fast? Okay, maybe we need to take it slow and go back to how it all started.

What is Due Network?

Due is a fintech startup looking to reshape the way international payments are carried out through the use of blockchain tech and by leveraging stablecoin options. Due is redefining global payments to enable “fast, accessible and low-cost international money movements for businesses and individuals around the world.”

The London-based company launched in September 2022 under the leadership of Robert Sargsian (CEO/Co-Founder) and Alex Popov (Co-Founder/CTO).

For both individuals and businesses, Due offers global transfers and remittances, merchant acquisition and borderless multi-currency accounts (vaults).

Ethereum, Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism and Base are the blockchains currently supported on the platform; while stablecoins currently supported are USDT, USDC, DAI and Euro Coin.

Due Products

Vaults: like actual physical vaults, Due also allows users create their own vaults - borderless multi-currency accounts, as they termed it. Users can create their multi-currency (international), non-custodial accounts where they can manage, send, receive, hold and exchange digital currencies.

You can deposit fiat or stablecoins directly into your account, exchange these stablecoins seamlessly like you can on crypto exchanges and even earn interest when you put your money in a smart vault.

Payments: whether you’re a business person, an individual or a student, Due is building an infrastructure that allows you to accept payments from anywhere in the world, eliminating the barrier of distance. Get paid either in flexible stablecoins or in your local currency (no matter which currency the other party pays in). You can even create shareable links to request payments and create invoices as well.

Transfers: are you yet to find a suitable platform that’ll allow you to send funds smoothly and quickly? Due Network promises to be your go-to platform for easy transfers. Defy the norm of difficult cross-border transfers with Due. You can send stablecoins or your local currency (don’t worry, they’ll get it in their own currency) to anyone across over 50 integrated countries.

Personally, I think this option is very ideal for business owners who have employees working remotely across various countries. You can pay salaries from one platform (Due) in many options, whether your employees choose to receive in digital currencies (stablecoins), their local currencies or other international currencies.

Overall, Due platform will officially go live later this month with these products and services fully active.

Expected Launch in Nigeria

Due plans to launch its activities later this month in Nigeria, according to statements from the team in a press conference held last week.

It is not surprising that the company chose Nigeria for its pilot launch in Africa considering that the country has the largest number of crypto participants in the continent and also accounted for the highest remittance flow into Sub-Saharan Africa in 2022, according to a report by the World Bank.

The company has teams spread across 4 continents in 6 countries currently.

Seed Round Raise: $3.3 Million

Just before the above announcement, on November 7th (about two weeks ago), the company announced closing its seed round with $3.3 million. The funding round was led by Semantic Ventures and Fabric Ventures. Also joined by other notable VCs (BlockTower VC, Speedinvest, Polymorphic Capital and Discover Ventures) and seed investors.

In an article titled “Why we started Due” published on the company’s Medium blog on the 7th, Robert Sargsian shared the company’s story from ideation stage in 2019 to the development stage in September 2022.

In my opinion, this is really that all-in-one platform. I might even consider trying it out, but of course, DYOR. This isn't an advice.

Your thoughts?