Four weeks after announcing it was shutting down, Chimoney has a second act. Chi Technologies Inc., the parent company of the Canada-based cross-border payments startup, has signed an agreement in principle to be acquired by CapitalSage Vantage Limited, a subsidiary of CapitalSage Holdings. If the deal closes, Chimoney becomes CapitalSage's first payments entity in Canada.
Founder Uchi Uchibeke shared the news on X, calling it an unexpected turnaround. In May, he had announced the shutdown after the startup ran out of runway, having raised less than $1 million in funding. Despite building infrastructure that let businesses send payments in 41 currencies across Africa, North America, and Latin America, Chimoney struggled to scale distribution and customer acquisition. Revenue stalled, and the company halted new transactions while refunding customer balances.
What turned things around was Uchibeke's own candor about the failure. "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."
Under the terms of the deal, all investors will be repaid in full and employees will receive proceeds from the acquisition. Uchibeke will stay on for six months to lead the transition. The deal will close in phases to meet re-registration requirements under Canada's Retail Payment Activities Act, giving regulators time to review and approve the ownership changes before the transaction is fully complete.
It also turns out that a quiet decision Uchibeke made at shutdown mattered more than it seemed at the time. He had kept Chi Technologies Inc. active and left Chimoney's Money Services Business registration and its recently secured Payment Service Provider licence dormant rather than dissolving them. Those assets are now at the center of the acquisition conversation.
Originally published by TechCabal.