Cross-Border Fintech Licensing: How a Payments Company Secured Three PSP Licenses in 14 Weeks and Closed Its Series B On Schedule
A cross-border payments fintech with $12M Series A funding needed Class B PSP licenses in Kenya, Tanzania, and Rwanda simultaneously to meet investor milestones for a $28M Series B. Fragmented EAC regulation and Tanzania's 8-month licensing backlog made sequential licensing impossible. All three licenses were secured within 14 weeks.
Headline outcomes
Three jurisdictions, three different games
Kenya offered a mature but saturated framework — 195 licensed entities competing for examiner attention, where any deficiency could trigger 4–6 week delays. Tanzania presented an 8-month application backlog with multi-agency review and inconsistent feedback. Rwanda was more predictable but demanded distinct local-substance requirements. Sequential licensing would have taken over a year; the Series B term sheet allowed 16 weeks.
Our approach
We ran the three licensing campaigns in parallel rather than sequence: jurisdiction-specific application architecture that anticipated each regulator's evidentiary standards; direct regulator engagement and pre-application briefings; compliance documentation built once, then adapted to each framework; and continuous regulatory intelligence to time submissions around review cycles.
The outcome
All three Class B PSP licenses were secured within 14 weeks — two weeks inside the term-sheet deadline. The $28M Series B closed on schedule at a 40% valuation uplift. The client now operates one of the region's few truly multi-jurisdiction payment platforms, with 4,200 active business customers processing $180M in annualized volume at engagement start.
Full case study (PDF)
Complete methodology, figures, and engagement detail. Client-identifying information generalized where required.
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