We are excited to share that LCash is live in closed beta across Lagos and Nairobi, with the public rollout across Nigeria and Kenya scheduled for the following weeks. This post covers what the product does today, how the waitlist works, and what ships in the months after public launch.
Who we are building for
LCash is a US dollar wallet and virtual card built for freelancers, remote workers, creators, students and everyday consumers across Africa. If you bill clients in USD, pay for international services, or simply want to hold dollars without opening a second bank account, the app gives you a working dollar balance and a card that spends it anywhere Visa or Mastercard is accepted.
We started with Nigeria and Kenya because the friction is sharpest here: tight FX rules, declined international cards, and a generation of freelancers invoicing USD to global platforms. If we can make the subscription-and-renewal cycle feel boring in Lagos and Nairobi, it means the product is working.
What ships in the first release
- USD wallet. A real dollar balance held by our regulated payment partner. You see the USD amount, not a converted Naira or Shilling figure.
- Virtual card. Issued in seconds, free of charge, usable anywhere Visa or Mastercard is accepted online. Up to three active cards per account.
- Local-currency top-ups. Fund the wallet from a Nigerian bank transfer, debit card, USSD, or from an M-Pesa or bank account in Kenya. You see the exact USD you will receive before confirming.
- Mobile-first KYC. NIN plus selfie in Nigeria; national ID plus selfie in Kenya. The whole flow is designed to complete in minutes on a phone.
- Transaction history and controls. Real-time transaction feed, per-card freeze, merchant-category controls, and instant decline notifications.
The beta is intentionally small
We are letting users in a few hundred at a time, starting with Lagos and Nairobi, so we can watch every card transaction, every top-up and every support message closely. Things that break in beta rarely announce themselves in the happy path; they show up at the edges, and we want to catch them with real users before the volume grows.
If you are in the beta, expect us to email you directly when something needs attention. If you are on the waitlist, expect us to expand the beta group weekly as we get comfortable with each wave.
Roadmap after public launch
The first few months after public launch are focused on three things:
- Physical card. The virtual card covers 95% of the use cases on our current waitlist, but a physical card is requested often enough that we are targeting a limited-release Visa physical card in Nigeria first, Kenya shortly after.
- Savings. A simple, clearly disclosed way to earn yield on a USD balance that is not being actively spent — with the mechanics and rates explained in plain language, not hidden in the fine print.
- Expansion to more African markets. Ghana, Uganda and South Africa are on the shortlist. Timing depends on local licensing and partner-bank availability, not on engineering. We will announce each market in its own post when we are confident we can deliver well there.
How to join
The fastest way onto the beta is email. Send a short note to support@lcash.com with your country and a one-line description of why LCash fits your workflow — international payments, freelancing, studying, running an online store — and we will prioritise you in the next wave.
We will keep this blog updated as each milestone lands. Thanks for being here early.