CV Labs Unveils Elite Global Cohort Transforming Cross-Border Finance

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ZUG, Switzerland & San Francisco, California. 1 September 2026. The Stellar x CV Labs Accelerator announces its first cohort: ten high-growth companies from Africa, Asia, Europe, the UAE and the US. The selected companies are already delivering solutions across cross-border payments, stablecoin foreign exchange, trade finance, digital wallets, settlement infrastructure and programmable financial services. Together, they represent the financial infrastructure layer for the digital and agentic economy that will underpin global commerce.

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The program is delivered through CV VC's Startup Activation Service. Powered by its ecosystem-builder pillar, CV Labs, the service has run its own and bespoke accelerator, incubator and growth programs for partners since 2019. The program combines Stellar’s growing global payments ecosystem with CV Labs' expertise in international startup activation. The Stellar Development Foundation is steadfast in promoting financial inclusion by using open-source blockchain technology. Through this program, startups will be able to scale their offering at an exponential rate. Through innovation hubs across Switzerland, the UAE, Germany, Liechtenstein, Portugal and South Africa, CV Labs supports more than 200 resident companies, a network of 100+ mentors, 150+ community events, 50,000+ attendees, and 10 flagship summits worldwide. 

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"These aren't companies searching for product-market fit. They're businesses already solving meaningful problems across global finance. Our role is to help accelerate commercial growth through access to world-class mentors, strategic partners, investors and two of the strongest global blockchain ecosystems, Switzerland’s Crypto Valley and the UAE, as well as what we consider the most attractive emerging market for our tech-stack, Africa." - Olaf Hannemann, Co-Founder of CV VC and CV Labs

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The selected companies are:

• Crebit Pay (USA): Building the rate locking layer for stablecoin foreign exchange, making cross-border payments predictable for businesses.
• DeFa by InvoiceMate (UAE): Providing settlement liquidity for licensed cross-border payment operators across Africa and the Gulf
• Janus (Germany): The financial OS for global trade. 
• JoonaPay (Côte d'Ivoire): Building financial operations infrastructure for Francophone African businesses to collect, send and reconcile payments across mobile money, banking and stablecoin rails.
• Kutana (Ghana): Building trade finance infrastructure that enables African SMEs to trade, send and receive payments.
• Remi (UAE): Connecting traditional financial infrastructure with digital assets to deliver faster, lower-cost financial services across gate-kept emerging markets.
• Saleem (UAE): Building stablecoin payment infrastructure for feature phones, with no smartphone or bank account required. First corridors in Syria and the wider Levant.
• Sly (USA): Unlocking the agentic economy through identity, governance and payments.
• Sorted (Hong Kong): Developing a non-custodial digital wallet that makes digital dollars simple and accessible across Africa and South Asia.
• Yolat (Nigeria): Building a cross-border neobank for Africans and African businesses - one account to earn, hold, send and pay across borders. 

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The cohort announcement comes as institutional use of blockchain accelerates. On Stellar alone, as of August 2026, nearly $4 billion in real-world assets are now live. Financial leaders including Franklin Templeton, Circle, Visa, PayPal and Ondo Finance are operating on or integrating with the network. The DTCC has also announced plans to leverage Stellar for tokenised securities settlement from 2027.

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"Participating founders on the Stellar x CV Labs program get unrivaled access to two of the world's strongest blockchain innovation regions: The UAE & Switzerland. The program has kicked off with an intense two-week bootcamp in one of CV Lab’s hubs - Cape Town, South Africa, and culminates with an in-person Demo Day at Stellar Meridian 2026 in Lisbon” - Francesca Conti, Head of Startup Activation at CV VC

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"The quality of this inaugural cohort reflects how quickly blockchain is transforming financial infrastructure. These founders are building solutions that address genuine market needs from cross-border payments to digital asset access and trade finance." - José Fernández da Ponte, President and Chief Growth Officer at the Stellar Development Foundation,

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As stablecoins, tokenised assets and blockchain-based payments continue to enter the financial mainstream, the Stellar x CV Labs Accelerator is backing the founders building on the technologies that will define this new era of global finance.