ByteX and Cenne Financial Merge to Launch Unified Cross-Border Financial Stack Linking North America, India, and Africa
The cross-border payment platform has merged with Africa-focused financial operations platform Cenne Financial to build an integrated financial gateway streamlining trade and commerce across key global corridors.
VANCOUVER / TORONTO — ByteX Financial and Cenne Financial have officially announced a strategic merger bringing both entities together under the ByteX brand. The transaction joins ByteX's established international settlement rails with Cenne's business-finance platform, offering small and medium-sized enterprises a unified stack for accounts, payments, foreign exchange, and operations.
Operating proprietary regulated payment infrastructure on the Canada–India and United States–India corridors since 2023, ByteX has processed over CAD $3.6 billion in cumulative transaction volume. Meanwhile, Cenne Financial, launched earlier in 2026 at Web Summit Vancouver, was built as an AI-native financial platform catering to businesses trading between Canada and African markets. By uniting these layers, the combined company owns both the front-end experience and the underlying settlement infrastructure.
Filling a Critical Infrastructure Gap
Global commerce is rapidly shifting along the North America, South Asia, and Africa axis, yet traditional financial systems remain slow, fragmented, and expensive for these vital trading routes. While India stands as the world's largest remittance recipient and African markets represent some of the fastest-growing economies globally, legacy payment providers have historically underserved these regions.
The newly unified company provides a regulatory foundation backed by registrations under Canada’s Retail Payment Activities Act and FINTRAC, with additional licenses actively progressing in India and Nigeria. Furthermore, ByteX plans to extend direct settlement and local-currency payout capabilities into African markets, prioritizing corridors connecting Canada and the United States to Nigeria, alongside ambitions to expand into five additional African and Caribbean corridors in the first half of 2027.
“Businesses in Canada should not need a patchwork of banks, payment providers, FX platforms and reconciliation tools simply to operate internationally. This combination connects the intelligence and experience of Cenne with rails ByteX has built and scaled since 2023,” noted Onyeka Akumah, Chief Executive Officer of ByteX.
Leadership and Next-Gen Architecture
Following the merger, Cenne Co-Founders Onyeka Akumah and Charles Sanda have assumed roles as Chief Executive Officer and President & Chief Commercial Officer of ByteX, respectively. Sayan Roy continues post-merger as Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer. Cenne Financial will persist as a specialized product offering within the broader ByteX platform.
Alongside its direct client offerings, ByteX will continue scaling its API and white-label infrastructure, empowering fintechs, FX operators, and marketplaces to embed international payment capabilities without building out complex liquidity and compliance systems from scratch.
“We are building the financial infrastructure for the next era of trade between North America, Asia and Africa and we are building it from Canada. The corridors we serve are not niches; they are where global commerce is currently growing,” stated Charles Sanda, President & Chief Commercial Officer of ByteX.

Written by
Read next
Turpaz Industries Acquires 70% Stake in South Africa’s Sensory FX for $10.6M
The Israel-listed flavor and fragrance multinational enters South Africa’s fragrance market via local subsidiary Sunspray Solutions, structuring a multi-year regional platform strategy.
APA Apollo Enters Tanzania via Dual 66.7% Stake Acquisitions in Meticulous General & Metro Life
The Kenyan financial services group expands its East African footprint into Tanzania, securing two majority stakes to accelerate regional underwriting growth across general and life insurance.
South Africa’s Competition Tribunal Approves Harith’s Acquisition of FlySafair
Pan-African infrastructure investor Harith General Partners secures antitrust clearance to acquire parent Safair Holdings, cementing local ownership compliance and integrating domestic aviation assets.
Helium Health Secures $2.5M Grant from Google.org
The Lagos-founded healthtech provider is selected as the sole African organization in Google.org's global cohort to deploy its HeliumMum AI platform across Lagos, Delta, Kano, and Oyo states.
Payments Infrastructure Provider Enza Secures $6.0M Seed+ Round Led by 4DX Ventures & BII
The Abu Dhabi-headquartered and Egypt-operated fintech scales its omni-channel payments orchestration platform across 12 African markets, enabling commercial banks to modernize legacy infrastructure.
Mediterrania Capital Partners Invests in AFG Assurances
Private equity investor Mediterrania Capital Partners completes an investment in the insurance arm of Atlantic Group, founded by Ivorian entrepreneur Koné Dossongui, to scale its regional footprint and drive financial inclusion.