Fintech Companies in South Africa: The Top 10

0 Shares

Africa is a continent with the highest unbanked population. Though many have seen this as a big disadvantage, some few individuals have seen it as a big opportunity. This has been pivotal to the growth of FinTech companies particularly the mobile money market which has enabled millions of Africans to send and receive money even without a bank account.

In South Africa, the likes of Peach Payments, PayFast and Zoona have held sway in the FinTech space and in this post; you will a comprehensive list of the FinTech companies in South Africa and their profile.

Fintech companies in south africa

Mama Money

Mama Money was established in 2013 but was fully launched in January 2015. The FinTech firm enables migrants in South Africa to send money back home at a low fee with no margin charged on the exchange rate. Mama Money is also expanding into Nigeria, Ghana and Tanzania using the network of its retail partner PEP.

The FinTech firm which focuses on money transfer service is also targeting to grow its business into Mozambique, Malawi, and Kenya. The company currently assists Zimbabweans living in South Africa to enable them to send money home in a cheap way. In Nigeria, Mama Money is connected to the 25 biggest banks and a mobile wallet called VKash. In Ghana, Mama Money is working with MTN Mobile Money and Airtel Money. In Tanzania, Mama Money’s launch partners are Vodacom M-Pesa, EzyPesa and Airtel Money.

  How to Check Telkom Phone Number

Yoco

Yoco was launched at the end of 2015 after a successful beta programme with 500 merchants. At the end of 2016, the company had already acquired over 5,000 SME merchants, growing 10x in a year. Currently, the company has doubled in size since the beginning of the year and is now adding over 1 000 new SME merchants to the platform every month. It now has over 10 000 SMEs in South Africa using its point-of-sale payments platform to accept card payments.

  How to Check Your Nedbank Account Balance on Mobile Phone

PayFast

PayFast has more than 80,000 registered merchants and having existed for over 10 years amidst a flurry of FinTech players and cryptocurrencies as Bitcoin set to challenge its business. The FinTech company was launched by Jonathan Smit in 2007 in South Africa.

Known to be one of if not South Africa’s Biggest Online Payment Gateways, it was set up to make online transactions simple, secure, and accessible to all South African sellers and buyers.

MyBucks

African FinTech firm MyBucks was founded by South African-born Dave van Nieker. The company through its brands GetBucks, GetBanked and GetSure offer unsecured consumer loans, banking solutions as well as insurance products to customers.

Since its inception in 2011, MyBucks has experienced exponential growth and today has operations in nine African and two European countries. In June, MyBucks which became the first African focused Fintech company listed in Germany started trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. In July 2016, the firm’s operations were extended into Kenya, Mozambique, and Tanzania.

Synthesis

Synthesis, founded in 1997, offers highly specialised software development, consulting and integration services and technology-based product solutions to banking and financial institutions in South Africa and other emerging markets.

The FinTech firm is a specialised financial technology company that provides software development, consulting, and integration services to financial institutions. Current clients include blue-chip financial organisations such as Investec, Absa, Standard Bank, Capitec and Nedbank. It will remain independent, operating as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Capital Appreciation.

RainFin

RainFin is a South African peer-to-peer lender that connects and allows you to easily and quickly lend or borrow to people around you.  To apply for a loan, a borrower needs to sign up and create a loan application profile.  Then, the borrower will be notified once an investor makes an offer.

Zoona

The South African-based FinTech firm was launched in 2009. The agents of the Cape Town-based firm have processed over $1 billion (R14.4 billion) in money transfers, bill payments, and other financial services in Zambia and Malawi in the past seven years.

Zoona’s entrepreneur agents serve more than one million customers every 60 days, across close to 1,500 locations. According to the company, its iconic green booths have become a staple across the landscapes of Zambia and Malawi.

Bankymoon

Bankymoon creates blockchain-based solutions and offers consulting services for organizations, enabling them to leverage the blockchains power to gain a competitive edge. Bankymoon is a bitcoin integration startup that majorly focuses on offering bitcoin payments gateways to metering vendors, allowing the vendors to take bitcoin payments for utilities. Recently, the company extended its idea, and it now applies blockchain tech to build a crowdfunding platform for schools in Africa.

Peach Payments

Peach Payments a FinTech startup which started trading in South Africa in the year 2014 makes customer payments to online merchants seamless and secure. The company now processes more than R1-billion in transactions per year and has expanded into Kenya and Nigeria with plans for other African countries.

Peach PaySafe is ideal for businesses that are not online but still want an online payment facility. SMEs such as freelancers, professionals, and tour operators, for instance, can simply email clients who will be able to click and pay online. No integration is required, the service is safe and easy, and merchants can customise it with their logo.

Matchi

Matchi is a leading global innovation and matchmaking platform that connects financial institutions and other large companies, with leading-edge, emerging technology solutions and innovators worldwide The company was started just over three years ago with CEO David Milligan (formerly of FNB) at the helm.

Matchi was started as a direct result of a problem encountered by its founder: how hard it was for financial technology firms and financial institutions to find each other in a meaningful way.

In the past three years, the Johannesburg and Hong Kong-based financial innovation matchmaking firm has collaborated with more than 100 financial institutions and currently boasts a network of more than 2500 categorised FinTech firms from around the world.

ThisIsMe

Founded in 2013 and formally established in 2014, ThisIsMe verifies an individual’s identity to other individuals, businesses, financial institutions, and regulators. It does so using links to Home Affairs data and the major banks. The South African startup is simplifying the process to establish and verify the identities of clients.

This South African start-up ThisIsMe, which has innovation that’s “giving a heartbeat to your identity” is making it easy and affordable for corporates and clients to comply with the Financial Intelligence Centre Amendment (FICA) Act 2017.

Entersekt

Entersekt’s patented security products protect close to 100 million transactions monthly while complying with the world’s most stringent regulatory guidelines. The protect tens of millions of end-users across the globe, securing 150 million digital transactions every month in 45 countries.

Enterprises across the globe look to Entersekt to strengthen the bond of trust they share with their customers, and to build on those relationships by introducing compelling, user-friendly new mobile and online services.

Entersekt has already secured several large banking clients including Absa, Nedbank, Capitec, Investec, Swisscard, Equity Bank, Ecobank, Pluscard and First Bank of Colorado.

 

Reference

0 Shares

Leave a Reply