Miden
Miden is a fintech infrastructure platform that provides card issuing, banking-as-a-service, wallets, lending, global payments, and expense management to financial institutions and corporates in Sub-Saharan Africa, with ~978K cards issued across 20+ countries.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2020
- HeadquartersLewes, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Miden does
Miden is a fintech infrastructure platform that issues corporate and consumer debit cards and provides banking-as-a-service, wallet-as-a-service, lending-as-a-service, global payments, and accruals/disbursements capabilities to businesses operating in Sub-Saharan Africa. The company targets two primary customer segments: African financial institutions and fintechs that need modern issuer-processor and embedded banking infrastructure, and corporate businesses that require corporate cards, expense management, USD business accounts, and NGN virtual accounts. Miden reports 978K+ cards issued across 20+ countries, 0.05% system downtime, and 98% customer retention, and claims a top-5 position in total payment volume among card-issuing fintechs in Sub-Saharan Africa within eight months of launch.
The platform is delivered via a Card Issuing API and dashboard, with proprietary features including privacy-focused blockchain infrastructure using zero-knowledge proofs (originating from a Polygon Labs spin-off relationship), and supports Visa, Mastercard, and Verve card networks alongside NFC contactless payments and Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay wallet integrations. Regional rails coverage includes NUBAN accounts, NIBSS integration, NIP, RTGS, SWIFT, and mobile money. The company holds PCI-DSS, NDPR, and SOC 2 Type 2 certifications and operates offices in Lewes, Delaware (US headquarters) and Lagos, Nigeria (African operations) under the legal name Miden (DBA Tyrus Tech).
Miden's business model combines recurring subscription/usage-based fees for its infrastructure modules (card issuing, BaaS, WaaS, LaaS, global payments, accruals/disbursements) with transaction-based fees on payment volume and FX. Pricing is quote-based and not publicly disclosed, reflecting an enterprise sales-led motion targeting financial institutions and corporates, with developer/API self-serve adoption as a secondary path. The company is Y Combinator-backed ($500K, January 2024) and raised a $25 million Series A led by a16z Crypto in April 2025, alongside strategic MOUs with Korea's KODA (January 2026) and Fuze (March 2026) to extend institutional digital asset infrastructure into Korea and the Middle East.
Miden firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Miden
- Legal name
- Miden
- Website
- https://miden.co
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2020
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Miden is a fintech infrastructure platform that provides card issuing, banking-as-a-service, wallets, lending, global payments, and expense management to financial institutions and corporates in Sub-Saharan Africa, with ~978K cards issued across 20+ countries.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Miden industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Payments Infrastructure
- NAICS
- Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (51821)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Card Issuing & Program Management Platforms (BPAMAFAH)
Keywords
Where Miden is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Lewes
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices2 records
Markets served
Miden business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Infrastructure, Operations, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Card Issuing Services: Miden generates revenue through card issuing infrastructure fees, charging businesses for access to its card program capabilities including virtual and physical card issuance, authorization, and processing.
- Banking-as-a-Service Fees: Revenue from providing embedded banking infrastructure to platforms, including account management, payments, and compliance features on a subscription or usage basis.
- Global Payments and FX: Fees from international payment services including multi-currency accounts, cross-border payments, and foreign exchange transactions.
- API Access and Integration: Revenue from developer API access, integration support, and technical services for embedding Miden's financial infrastructure.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Other | Monthly | Custom pricing based on business size and needs |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels4 records
Miden product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Miden provides a modern issuer-processor and banking infrastructure platform that enables businesses and financial institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa to issue virtual and physical cards, embed banking, wallets, lending, and global payments capabilities via API. The platform supports multi-currency accounts (USD and NGN), NUBAN-compliant Nigerian accounts, NFC contactless payments, and consolidated accruals and disbursements operations. Its offerings are delivered as modular infrastructure services accessed through a Card Issuing API and dashboard.
Product overview
Miden is a fintech infrastructure platform providing a comprehensive suite of payment and financial services for businesses in Sub-Saharan Africa. The platform operates as a modular architecture centered around Card Issuing as the core product, supported by Banking As A Service, Wallet As A Service, Lending As A Service, Global Payments, and Accruals and Disbursements as additional service modules. The product portfolio includes Corporate Cards, USD Business Accounts, NGN Virtual Accounts, and Expense Management as distinct product offerings that integrate with the core infrastructure. The platform consolidates card issuing, accruals, disbursements, and global payments into a single system with API access for developers.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Card Issuing Modern issuer-processor infrastructure enabling businesses to issue virtual and physical cards with spending caps, real-time authorization, merchant category restrictions, and two-factor authentication, supporting Visa, Mastercard, and Verve networks.
- Banking As A Service Embedded banking infrastructure allowing platforms to integrate accounts, payments, and banking features. Enables customers to hold funds, pay bills, earn yield, and manage cash flow programmatically.
- Wallet As A Service Wallet infrastructure for creating and managing wallets for businesses and end users, supporting open-loop and closed-loop systems with multi-currency management (USD and NGN) and detailed transaction reporting.
- Lending As A Service Credit-as-a-service platform enabling African businesses to launch operational loan companies with loan origination, payment processing, risk assessment, credit scoring, and account management capabilities in weeks rather than months.
- Global Payments International payment services enabling businesses to make fast, secure global payments for software licenses, supplier payments, and overseas contractor payments, with multi-currency accounts and clear FX rates.
- Accruals and Disbursements Enterprise financial operations infrastructure for managing accruals, disbursements, and reconciliation from a single platform, supporting NIP, RTGS, SWIFT, and mobile money payment rails with automated workflows and real-time visibility.
- Corporate Cards Expense cards for businesses with customizable spending limits, real-time monitoring, and automated reconciliation, supporting virtual and physical cards for team spending on Visa, Mastercard, and Verve networks.
- USD Business Accounts USD business accounts designed for managing global transactions with FDIC protection, multi-currency support, and no conversion fees for international business operations.
- NGN Virtual Accounts Naira virtual accounts with unique NUBAN-compliant account numbers for each transaction, enabling Nigerian customers to pay via local bank transfer.
- Expense Management Business expense tracking platform with team budget management, expense reimbursement, approval workflows, and automated reporting capabilities.
Quantifiable outcome
- 978K+ cards issued on the platform
- +4 more outcomes
Companies that use Miden
Customer profileSegments6 records
Ideal customer profiles5 records
Miden technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration6 records
Feature7 records
Miden partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.
- FuzecoreMiden partnered with Fuze to develop privacy-focused blockchain infrastructure for regulated finance. The MoU addresses institutional adoption barriers by enabling privacy-preserving infrastructure that protects customer data while maintaining regulatory oversight and KYC/AML compliance. The partnership combines Fuze's network of banks, fintechs and enterprises with Miden's private blockchain architecture to enable regulated digital asset use cases in payments, remittances and wealth services across emerging markets, particularly the Middle East.
- KODA (Korea Digital Asset)coreMiden and Korea's KODA signed an MOU on institutional digital asset infrastructure development. This partnership focuses on building digital asset infrastructure for institutional use cases in Korea.
- Polygon LabscoreMiden is a blockchain project spun out of Polygon Labs, employing zero-knowledge proof technology. The spin-off relationship provides Miden with technology lineage and inherited blockchain expertise from the Polygon ecosystem.
Scale indicators6 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Miden competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Unit: Unit is a banking-as-a-service platform offering accounts, cards, lending, and payments via API. Its embedded-finance stack directly overlaps Miden's BaaS, WaaS, LaaS, and Card Issuing modules for fintech and corporate customers.
- Marqeta: Marqeta is a leading card-issuing platform whose modern issuer-processor architecture directly parallels Miden's core offering. It is the benchmark for API-first card issuance at scale and the most direct global comparable for Miden's card-issuing stack.
- Lithic: Lithic provides a modern card-issuing API for fintechs and embedded-finance use cases, with customisable controls and developer-first tooling. It is directly comparable to Miden on issuing infrastructure, though focused on US/developed markets rather than Africa.
- Flutterwave: Flutterwave is a major Pan-African payments platform offering card issuing, business accounts, cross-border payments, and disbursements to African businesses. Its breadth across cards, accounts, and global payments overlaps directly with Miden's product suite.
- Paystack: Paystack (owned by Stripe) provides African merchants with payments infrastructure and is now expanding into broader financial services. It is a high-profile regional competitor influencing pricing and customer expectations in the same Nigerian/Sub-Saharan market Miden targets.
- Stripe Issuing: Stripe Issuing enables platforms to create and manage virtual and physical cards via API — a near-identical product proposition to Miden's Card Issuing module, including spending controls and real-time authorisation. It represents the global incumbent Miden competes against for developer mindshare.
- Highnote: Highnote offers a unified issuing and ledgering platform for fintechs and brands. Its multi-product BaaS-style positioning (issuing plus accounts plus ledger) closely mirrors Miden's broader stack ambition.
- Synctera: Synctera pairs sponsor banks with fintechs to deliver embedded banking, including card issuing and account services. Its end-to-end BaaS model with sponsor-bank integration is structurally analogous to Miden's regulated-finance stack for Africa.
- Bloc: Bloc is an African banking-as-a-service provider offering accounts, cards, and payments infrastructure for African fintechs. It is one of the closest regional comparables to Miden's full-stack model targeting Sub-Saharan Africa.
- Maplerad: Maplerad provides African fintechs with developer-friendly APIs for payments, cards, and identity verification. It is a regional direct peer competing for the same B2B fintech infrastructure wallet in Nigeria and beyond.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Miden social profiles
Digital presenceMiden compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance3 records
Miden financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Miden leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
Miden funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds1 record
Investors1 record
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Miden M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Miden
What does Miden do?
Miden provides a modern issuer-processor and banking infrastructure platform that enables businesses and financial institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa to issue virtual and physical cards, embed banking, wallets, lending, and global payments capabilities via API. The platform supports multi-currency accounts (USD and NGN), NUBAN-compliant Nigerian accounts, NFC contactless payments, and consolidated accruals and disbursements operations. Its offerings are delivered as modular infrastructure services accessed through a Card Issuing API and dashboard.
Is Miden a public or private company?
Miden is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Miden founded?
Miden was founded in 2020. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Miden based?
Miden is headquartered in Lewes, United States, in the North America region.
How does Miden make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Card Issuing Services are the primary driver. The others are banking-as-a-Service Fees, global Payments and FX and API Access and Integration.
Who are Miden's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Unit, Marqeta, Lithic, Flutterwave, Paystack, Stripe Issuing, Highnote, Synctera, Bloc and Maplerad.
Does Miden have an API?
Yes. Miden offers an API for developers to integrate card issuing, wallet management, and payment processing capabilities. The platform provides API access for card issuing, virtual card management, disbursements, and accruals operations. The documentation is available at https://www.miden.co/resources/documentation. Developer documentation is at www.miden.co/resources/documentation.
What industry is Miden in?
Miden's product category is Payments Infrastructure. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAMAFAH, Card Issuing & Program Management Platforms. Its NAICS code is 51821 and its SIC code is 7372.