Seychelles’ payments infrastructure has long been bogged down by cash-reliance, manual transfers, and physical cheques — but fintech startup Fusepay is looking to change that. The company recently raised $350,000 in a pre-seed round to modernize business payments across the Indian Ocean islands, starting with Seychelles.
Founded in June 2024 by Vidhyasahar Thiyagarajan (CEO) and Francesco Rocchi (CTO), Fusepay grew from first-hand frustrations: both founders helped their families run retail and wholesale businesses in Seychelles and saw how much inefficiency, risk, and time were being lost to outdated payment processes. With that experience, they assembled a 10-person team with global expertise — from Intel to Goldman Sachs — to build a more modern, secure payment platform.
The newly raised capital comes from several early-stage investors, including Hustle Fund, Everywhere Ventures, First Check Ventures, Startup Istanbul, and angel investor Ryan Nesbitt. Part of this funding is being used to secure a Payment Service Provider (PSP) license in Seychelles — a key step for Fusepay to operate legally and scale. In fact, the Central Bank of Seychelles recently granted the license, clearing a major regulatory hurdle.
In addition to FuseCheq, the company is preparing a B2B invoice payment platform, enabling businesses to manage payable and receivable accounts via mobile money rails. By reducing cash handling, eliminating manual reconciliation, and automating payments, Fusepay aims to help local businesses save money, reduce fraud risk, and operate more efficiently.
With its first transaction already processed following the PSP license approval, Fusepay is officially live in Seychelles. For a market historically dependent on paper and cash, Fusepay’s launch marks a significant step toward digital financial transformation — and could well reshape how businesses in Seychelles and the broader Indian Ocean manage money.
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