Fintech Chimoney to be acquired four weeks after announcing shutdown

Chi Technologies Inc., the parent company of Chimoney, the Canada-based cross-border payment infrastructure startup that announced its shutdown in May, has signed an agreement to be acquired by CapitalSage Vantage Limited, a subsidiary of CapitalSage Holdings. 

In a statement on X on Monday, Chimoney founder Uchi Uchibeke disclosed that both companies had signed an agreement in principle for the acquisition, marking an unexpected turnaround for the startup. If the deal closes, Chimoney will become CapitalSage’s first payments entity in Canada.

The acquisition comes four weeks after Chimoney announced it was shutting down due to insufficient capital to sustain operations. In May, Uchibeke noted that the startup had failed to scale distribution and customer acquisition despite building a product that enabled businesses to send payments in 41 currencies across Africa, North America, and Latin America. 

At the time, Uchibeke said revenue had stalled and that the company had raised less than $1 million in funding, leaving it unable to continue operating independently. Chimoney eventually halted the processing of new transactions and began refunding customer balances. 

“When I announced the wind-down in May, I told the truth about what went wrong,” he wrote. “The coverage reached over a dozen publications. Everyone used my framing. Within days, CapitalSage reached out. The wind-down became the pitch.”

After the deal is finalised, Uchibeke said all Chimoney’s investors would be repaid in full, while employees would also receive from the proceeds. He also noted that he would remain involved for six months to lead the transition. 

According to him, the acquisition itself would close in phases to accommodate re-registration requirements under Canada’s Retail Payment Activities Act. The phased approach could allow ownership changes to be reviewed and approved by regulators before the transaction is fully completed.

The deal also validates a decision Uchibeke highlighted when announcing Chimoney’s shutdown. He had noted that Chimoney’s parent company, Chi Technologies Inc., would remain active, while the company’s Money Services Business (MSB) registration and recently secured Payment Service Provider (PSP) licence would remain dormant. 

“I preserved the PSP and MSB. Many people told me to let them lapse. Those licenses are why this deal happened, ” Uchibeke said. 

For CapitalSage Holdings, which already operates across Nigeria, Kenya, the Gambia, the UAE, and the UK, the acquisition provides an entry point into Canada’s payments market without having to build regulatory infrastructure from scratch.

Uchibeke will now focus on building APort, a separate AI product independent from Chimoney. Reflecting on the outcome, he wrote that the acquisition was never part of the original shutdown plan.

“I did not plan for this,” he said. “ I wrote the wind-down post because it was the right thing to do. The integrity of that process is what brought CapitalSage to the table.”