Kenyan cross-border payments startup GTXN acquired by Luno

Kenyan cross-border payments startup GTXN has been acquired by UK-based digital asset platform Luno.

Founded in 2022, GTXN provides collection and payout infrastructure across corridors linking developed and emerging markets, backed by a licensing footprint for regulated cross-border flows. 

Luno, meanwhile, was founded in 2013, and lets customers buy, store and manage digital assets, alongside a growing set of institutional services. The company, which is part of Digital Currency Group, serves more than 15 million customers across multiple markets.

The acquisition of GTXN gives Luno its own licensed rails to move money in and out of these markets, which it will offer to enterprise clients as a single settlement flow. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. GTXN will operate as the group’s cross-border payments capability, with founder Dan Kleinbaum, who previously co-founded and sold mobile money startup Beyonic to Onafriq, staying on as CEO.

“I have spent my career making payments work in markets the rest of the world finds hard to reach,” Kleinbaum said.

“What drew me to Luno is the foundation. Very few companies have the liquidity and the regulatory standing to run cross-border settlement at real scale in these regions. With that behind us, we can build something that has been out of reach for most of the industry.”

James Lanigan, Luno’s CEO, said moving money between developed and emerging markets was still too slow and too expensive, and its clients felt it every day.

“We have spent years earning the licences and the trust it takes to operate in these corridors, and building the liquidity underneath. GTXN gives us the payment rails to match. Clients get one provider for the whole flow, which is what they have been asking us for,” he said.