Lagos-based cross-border payments startup Clea has rolled out a new product called Vendor Payments, letting African businesses pay international suppliers, vehicle auction platforms and shipping companies directly from their Clea accounts rather than initiating separate wire transfers.
What Vendor Payments Does
The feature is designed to help businesses pay international suppliers, vehicle auction platforms and shipping companies directly through the platform, marking Clea’s expansion beyond foreign exchange and cross-border transfers into broader trade finance infrastructure. The product is initially available to eligible, verified Clea business customers and supports USD payments to selected suppliers in the United States, with customers able to fund their accounts in naira, access foreign currency on the platform, and complete international payments within a single experience.
Using the feature is straightforward: customers select a vendor, enter payment references such as buyer numbers, lot numbers or invoice details, and authorise the transaction. Because vendor details are preconfigured within the platform, payments can be completed without manually entering beneficiary banking information, cutting out a step that typically slows down traditional cross-border transfers.
Strong Early Adoption Numbers
Clea says it processed more than $20 million in transaction volume within six months of emerging from stealth in December 2025. Vendor Payments itself has already been adopted by more than 50 businesses during its pilot phase, an early signal that simplifying supplier payments addresses a real pain point for the company’s existing customer base.
That momentum builds on a smaller base. During its original pilot before the December 2025 launch, Clea processed over $4 million in cross-border transactions, serving Nigerian importers trading with suppliers in the United States, China, and the UAE, with plans to expand into additional trade corridors across Africa.
Part Of A Broader Trade Infrastructure Push
Clea frames Vendor Payments as another step toward becoming a single platform African businesses can use to fund, pay, and manage international trade, rather than stitching together separate tools for currency conversion, wire transfers, and supplier payments. By integrating supplier payments alongside its existing cross-border transfer product, the company is aiming to reduce the operational complexity businesses face when sourcing goods from overseas markets.
