/Graveyard/Chimoney

Chimoney logo

Chimoney

Digital identity and multi-rail payments for AI agents.

Epitaph

Here lies Chimoney. Its API moved value across currencies, ledgers, and borders. The technology could route payments almost anywhere, but distribution never found the address and runway returned insufficient funds.

Overview

Born
2022 (Year)
Died
May 2026 (Month)
Lifespan
4 years
Fate
Shut down
Headquarters
🇳🇬 Nigeria
Category
Fintech
Stage at death
Pre-seed
Funding raised
200K
Founders
Uchi Uchibeke
Primary cause
Distribution or go-to-market
Contributing causes
Funding or runway, Regulation

Death certificate

Death certificate for Chimoney

Timeline

  1. 2022Founded

    Chimoney launches, building cross-border payment API infrastructure, backed by Techstars

  2. February 2026Investors notified

    founder tells investors of financial trouble

  3. April 2026Clients notified

    business clients told of impending shutdown

  4. May 2026Shutdown

    Chimoney ceases all new transactions and integrations on May 1, 2026

  5. August 2026Refund deadline

    deadline of August 31, 2026 set for customers to claim wallet refunds

Autopsy report

Why did Chimoney shut down?

Nigerian-founded, Canada-based cross-border payments API startup Chimoney ceased all new transactions and integrations on May 1, 2026 after four years, with founder Uchi Uchibeke citing a distribution failure and insufficient capital (under $1M raised) rather than a product problem. [graveyard-sheet-seed]

What Chimoney attempted

Built unified API infrastructure to move value between currencies, ledgers and protocols — supporting bank transfers, mobile money, stablecoins and the Interledger protocol across 41 currencies for businesses in North America, Africa and Latin America.

What worked

Secured a FINTRAC MSB license and was among the first Canadian companies to receive a Payment Service Provider license under the Bank of Canada's RPAA regime; served hundreds of business clients and was an early production provider of the Interledger protocol; came out of the Techstars accelerator.

Early warning signs

Revenue stayed flat despite the product working; investors were notified of trouble in February 2026, three months before the public shutdown.

What happened

Chimoney notified investors in February 2026 and clients in April 2026 that it was struggling. On May 1, 2026 it emailed customers that it had ceased all new transactions and integrations, citing failure to build effective distribution and insufficient capital (under $1M raised over its life) to sustain multi-jurisdiction regulatory and audit costs. It began refunding customer wallet balances, with a refund deadline of August 31, 2026; the founder retained the corporate entity and PSP registration to build a new venture (APort) focused on AI agent authorization.

What future founders can do differently

Founder Uchi Uchibeke said: "The product worked. It was distribution. I spent too much of my time building and not enough time making sure people knew what we built... We raised under $1M over the life of the company. For a fintech operating across multiple jurisdictions with regulatory and audit costs, that was too thin. Revenue stayed flat, and without a clear path to more capital, I had to make a call."

Lessons for future builders

  • Founder Uchi Uchibeke said: "The product worked.
  • It was distribution.
  • I spent too much of my time building and not enough time making sure people knew what we built...
  • We raised under $1M over the life of the company.
  • For a fintech operating across multiple jurisdictions with regulatory and audit costs, that was too thin.

Your verdict

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Sources

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