Fintech payments

Cleva

Website
Founded 2023Origin source ↗Checked 2026-09-15

Overview

Cleva breaks down financial borders across the globe by enabling remote workers, individuals, and businesses to hold stablecoin-backed dollars. Specifically, we enable our customers:

1. Receive USD, GBP, EUR payments: Individuals and businesses can receive USD, GBP, and EUR payments into their virtual account.

2. Receive and send stablecoins: They can also receive USDT or USDC, and make global payments via USDT and USDC.

3. Hold funds in USD: They can choose to hold their funds in USD instead of converting to local currency. In high inflation countries, this is extremely desirable as it helps our customers hedge against inflation until they're ready to spend in local currency.

4. Stablecoin-backed cards: We issue cards that are stablecoin-backed and accepted by 150M+ merchants across the globe. Users can fund in stablecoins or fiat, spend anywhere VISA is accepted, and earn cashback in the form of Cleva Points.

5. Savings: We recently launched Cleva Pots, allowing users to save towards their goals and earn yield on their savings.

It's still very early days at Cleva. We've been hyper-focused on our home country Nigeria but we're now expanding to more countries across the globe.

Company description As recorded 2026-11-08

Founders & team

Tolu Alabi

Founder/CEO

Tolu brings relevant experience from her time as a Lead Product Manager building Issuing and Banking products at Stripe. Prior to Stripe, she was a Senior PM at Amazon working on multiple products from Logistics to Augmented Reality. In addition, she has an MBA from Stanford GSB and a B.A in Computer Science and Mathematics from Grinnell College. Outside of work, she loves to play multiple sports (for now tennis and basketball). She's also a huge Lebron fan.

Founder profile As recorded 2026-09-15

Philip Abel

Founder/CTO

Philip has spent years building large-scale, multi-region infrastructure and services at industry leaders including AWS, Twilio, and Akamai Technologies. Originally from Nigeria, his journey took him from Kano to MIT and Georgia Tech, where he studied computer science. His story is one of resilience, curiosity, and a deep commitment to using technology to make a positive impact on the world. Outside of work, Philip is a lifelong FC Barcelona supporter and a devoted Lionel Messi fan.

Founder profile As recorded 2026-09-15
30team members reported
Source-reported As recorded 2026-09-15

Founded 2023 · Source

News & product activity

Sources & observations

Y Combinator

Profile depthenriched profile
Website observationwebsite reachable
Last website check2026-11-11
Location · source statedSan Francisco, CA, USA; Remote
Pricing evidenceA pricing page was detected
Maturity: Launched · 4 of 6 areas documented

Source-based assessment · automated evidence rules

The company website offers product access through a trial, free start, app download, purchase, or onboarding with existing-account login. Customer adoption is not established by this evidence.

Company website: home Checked 2026-11-03

Watch step-by-step videos that show you exactly how to use our features Pricing Login Create an account

Maturity is an evidence-based assessment, not a success rating. It may understate the current stage where evidence is limited. Coverage records documented areas, not a complete or independently audited company history.

Stage definitions
independent websitesource corroborationreachable websitedescriptive evidenceclassified market and modelsourced peoplesourced founding yearpricing page observedrecent publishing observed