By Juliet Umeh
Nigerian-founded travel technology startup, Timon, has announced plans to expand into Kenya after surpassing 100,000 users across 16 African countries, as it accelerates its growth following its selection into Alliance, a global startup accelerator.
The company said it was among 20 startups selected for Alliance’s 2025 ALL14 programme from over 1,700 applications. Alliance supports startups building products powered by artificial intelligence, AI, and blockchain technologies.
Founded by Nigerian entrepreneurs, Tomi Ayorinde and Chizaram Ucheaga, Timon was created to address payment challenges faced by Africans travelling abroad after the founders experienced their payment cards being declined while outside their home countries.
Unlike many African fintech firms that initially focused on remittances and cross-border money transfers, Timon said it was designed to enable Africans to spend seamlessly across borders through a suite of payment and financial services.
Speaking on the company’s growth strategy, Chief Executive Officer of Timon, Mr. Tomi Ayorinde, said the next wave of financial innovation in Africa would focus on helping people access and spend their money anywhere in the world.
He said: “Much of the last decade in African fintech has been spent solving how money moves into the continent. We believe the next major opportunity is helping Africans take their money with them wherever they go.”
Ayorinde previously founded Mobile Forms, an offline data collection platform that later evolved into Crowd Force, a Y Combinator-backed technology company that raised a $3.6 million Series A funding round before its acquisition by FairMoney in 2023.
His co-founder, Ucheaga, also founded Clymb Technologies, which developed financial infrastructure and agent banking solutions for underserved communities.
Launched in September 2024, Timon enables users to fund digital wallets using local currencies, United States dollar accounts and stablecoins, while offering virtual and physical payment cards, cross-border transfers, local payouts and global eSIM services.
The company disclosed that stablecoins now account for nearly 70 per cent of transactions processed on its platform, noting that the feature was introduced in response to customer demand.
According to Ayorinde, the trend reflects changing financial habits among African consumers.
He said: “There is now a generation of Africans earning globally, preserving value in stablecoins and living increasingly international lives.”
On its expansion into Kenya, the company explained that the decision was driven by growing customer adoption in the country rather than conventional market expansion plans.
Ayorinde added: “We don’t expand because the market looks attractive on paper. We expand because customers are already there.”
The company said the investment from Alliance would be deployed towards product development, customer acquisition, expansion into new markets and strengthening its stablecoin infrastructure.
It also revealed plans to expand beyond travel payments by introducing travel planning tools, insurance services and additional global payment solutions aimed at building a comprehensive financial platform for African travellers.
Ayorinde said: “In the future, people will travel with two passports: their national passport and their financial passport. We want Timon to become that financial passport.”
