Cloud9, a Kenyan fintech founded by former Marketforce executive Tesh Mbaabu, secured $500,000 from New York’s Alliance accelerator, bringing total disclosed funding to $1 million to expand payment corridors, issue virtual and physical cards and grow its customer base. The platform allows users to hold shillings, dollars, euros, pounds and yuan, settles cross‑border payments with USDC and USDT stablecoins, and reports over 25,000 accounts with weekly transaction growth exceeding 15%.