Stellar Community Fund

By Liquid by Upesa

Upesa for Business

SCF #42

$86.0K

Build

Awarded

Products & Services

Upesa provides a mobile-friendly digital wallet powered by stablecoin for remittance and cross-border payment. We have innovatively merged mobile money technology with stablecoin payments, ensuring individuals and businesses can use our app without friction or noticeable difference from existing mobile money solutions.

We achieved this through:

Wallet and token abstraction through a simple mobile UI and MPC technology
Fee and trustline sponsorship possible with Stellar
Simplified account recovery with security questions
Compliance built in through KYC, AML and tiered account
Fast transaction execution possible with Stellar

Our current product covers:

Virtual accounts for freelancers and content creators
StableSwap for conversion between stablecoins
Global payment with USDC

Through this submission we are targeting businesses and leveraging Stellar Anchor to provide the liquidity needed for on-ramps and off-ramps across specific trade corridors. With this integration:

Importers can pay their suppliers in minutes for real-time payment (RTP) systems like PIX, NIBSS and t+1 in some corridors through anchors.
SMEs or service companies with teams spread across different countries can pay their teams through our integration of the Stellar disbursement platform.

Value proposition

Low transaction fees thanks to direct integration with local banks and volume discount agreement with anchors
Mobile-money-friendly UI that has been tested with users like POS operators and market women in Nigeria
Seamless payment experience ensuring an importer in Nigeria can pay their supplier in their local currency, e.g., naira, while we handle the underlying complexities (NGN<>USDC<>CYN)
Instant settlement for real payment systems and T+1 max for non-RTP payment that ensure a supplier get paid faster than existing options like banks
Higher transaction size of over $100k, typical of business transactions through Stellar Anchors

Go to market plan

Direct engagement with businesses across major markets like Alaba in Lagos and Onitsha market in Anambra
Referral reward focused on organic referrals from the first 20 businesses onboarded
Excellent customer support through dedicated customer support and sales executives for every business onboarded
Local social media ads across platforms like facebook with relatable materials and messaging
Partnership with local trade group specific to different import categories

Requested Budget

$86.0K

Traction Evidence

We launched in beta last year and participated in the first growth hack organised by the foundation. Since then, we have actively improved our product, grown consistently and launched new features, including virtual accounts for freelancers.

We have launched our mobile app with over 14k+ verified users onboarded and over 1k MAUs across all mobile platforms. Android and iOS
We have processed over $55,000 in USDC (Dune data) for top-ups and 167 million naira (approximately $120,000) in local transactions/off-ramps (volume).
We have launched USD virtual accounts for freelancers and content creators.
We recently launched on-ramp via card top-up.
We currently support 20+ countries, including Nigeria and the USA.
We are a member of Virtual Asset Service Providers in Africa (VASPA)

All the stats referenced here can be verified here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uMjsgC6OGTjXXTW6Dse7vXGyE2ac_3G0/view?usp=sharing

Tranche 1 (Deliverable Roadmap) - MVP

Deliverable 1—DFNS setup for business

We will implement a business onboarding/registration flow on the Upesa mobile app. Through the DFNS wallet integration and Stellar native multisig, a business user will be able to add a separate authorised signatory (an existing Upesa user) to the account for transaction authorisation as an extra layer of security.

Measuring outcome:

Business user onboarding flow completed on the upesa app
Stellar native multisig setup completed for transaction authorisation by signatory
Reviewers will be able to test both the onboarding and transaction authorisation flows with a TestFlight build and an Android APK.
A demo video will be provided for reviewers showing the onboarding and transaction authorisation flow

Budget: $12,000

Deliverable 2—Cloud Setup and HSM setup

Deployment of secure cloud infrastructure supporting Upesa’s wallet and transaction services, logging activities for audits, and cryptographic key management with AWS KMS.

Measuring Outcome:

Console logs and screenshots showing the following:

Running instance of Gateway server
⁠CI/CD pipeline in AWS CodePipeline
IAM roles configured in AWS Identity and Access Management

Budget: $8,000

Tranche 2 (Deliverable Roadmap) - Testnet

Deliverable 3—Owlpay Integration

We will be integrating Owlpay as a Stellar anchor to off-ramp to CNY and USD. This will allow users, particularly import businesses, to pay their suppliers in China, the United States and other supported corridors. Payment will be powered by USDC and converted to CNY following standards like SEP-6 for programmatic deposits/withdrawals via Owlpays API, SEP-12 for KYC/KYB verification with Anchor and SEP-38 for rate quotes before a transaction is executed.

Measuring Outcome:

Users will be able to pay into a test local account with testnet USDC on the app
A demo video will be provided for reviewers to understand the payment flow implemented
A TestFlight and an Android APK build of the app will be provided for testing purposes.

Budget: $18,000

Deliverable 4—Bridge Integration

We will be implementing SEP-12, SEP-38 and SEP6 with Bridge for on-ramp and off-ramp to EUR through SEPA.

Measuring Outcome:

Users will be able to pay to a test IBAN account with testnet USDC on the app
A demo video will be provided for reviewers to understand the payment flow
A Testflight build and android APK will be provided for testing

Budget: $18,000

Deliverable 5—SDP Integration

We will integrate the Stellar Disbursement platform for payroll payment. This will be accessible on the app through the access service tab on the app. We will implement spreadsheet import for recipients or a manual option of entry before a disbursement is authorised.

Measuring Outcome:

Reviewers will be able to import or manually enter recipients on the mobile app
The users/reviewers can initiate, review and authorize payout
A demo video will be provided for reviewers to understand the disbursement flow on the app
A Testflight build and android APK will be provided for testing

Budget: $18,000

Tranche 3 (Deliverable Roadmap) - Mainnet

Deliverable 6—Sumsub Integration

We will be integrating Sumsub for business account verification and active monitoring for compliance. Some of the core services to be integrated will include document checks with company registries, AML screening and transaction monitoring.

Measuring Outcome:

A live sumsub account with live API ready for testing
Final onboarding of Upesa by Sumsub with SLA agreement signed

Budget: $6,000

Deliverable 7—Live Integration and beta testing

We will perform all necessary checks, including setting up live API keys, whitelisting, stress testing, rate limiting, and signing SLAs and contracts. We will also be working with a few ecosystem members and platforms like Stallion for beta testers who will perform several tests, including responsiveness tests on different devices, stress testing and penetration testing.

Measuring Outcome:

Live API keys are successfully configured and validated in the production environment.
Production server with 5-10 live transactions to local banks executed via integrated anchors
2 Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and integration contracts finalised with anchors and partners.
8-10 independent reports provided by beta testers

Budget: $6,000

Team

Boyejo Oluwafemi (founder and product manager):

Boyejo is a trained mechanical engineer turned product manager with a strong passion for the real-world application of blockchain technology. He was a freelance engineer for over 4 years before co-founding the Wasset Protocol, former CTO of Novus X LLC, and has led several projects, including Inclusive Blockchain for Africa (https://dfmlab-1661264159599.hashnode.dev/all-you-need-to-know-about-inclusive-blockchain-for-africa-ib4a).

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hardwareguy/

Ray King (Frontend and mobile application developer)

King is a talented front-end and mobile application developer. He is a highly skilled full-stack developer adept in JavaScript, Ruby, Solidity, TypeScript, and Node.js. He has worked on several blockchain projects, including Wasset and Beam. He is also an instructor at the Blockchain Innovation Hub.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/king-ray/

Owolabi Bassit (Backend developer)

Backend engineer at Wasset with over three years of experience. His experience spans building server-side applications with Node.js, Express.js, MongoDB, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and PostgreSQL.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bassitowolabi/