SA fintech operator Peach Funds has agreed to purchase West African cost platform PayDunya, giving it entry into the francophone market whereas additionally including cell cash to its companies.
The acquisition is the third by Peach since closing a $30m (R547.87m) funding spherical, led by the Apis Development Fund II, in 2023.
Peach, the second-largest on-line cost gateway in SA, was based by Rahul Jain and Andreas Demleitner in 2012 in Cape City. It expanded to Kenya in 2018, Mauritius in 2021 and Eswatini in 2024.
“Peach’s ambition has all the time been to construct a pan-African participant,” Jain instructed Enterprise Day. “In a few markets we went in organically, as Peach. However as you go deeper into Africa, you realise that native context and socioeconomic components change. Working with the proper companions turns into key.”
The funds start-up — utilized by the likes of Flight Centre, UCook, Bare Insurance coverage, Sweepsouth, Superbalist, Adidas SA, NetFlorist and Computicket — permits small and enormous retailers to just accept, handle and make e-commerce and digital funds by way of cell gadgets and the net.
Companies embrace on-line cost acceptance, payouts (disbursements) and subscription by way of varied cost strategies equivalent to playing cards, digital funds transfers, digital wallets, cell cash and buy-now, pay-later choices.
Along with the geographic enlargement, Jain sees alternative in including cell cash to its suite of choices with the transaction. A banking penetration price of greater than 80% amongst South Africans has typically been blamed on the lacklustre adoption and efficiency of cell funds regionally. Elsewhere on the continent, the place the banking penetration price averages 35%, cell cash has taken off.
PayDunya operates in six West African francophone nations: Senegal, Ivory Coast, Benin, Burkina Faso, Togo and Mali. It facilitates sending and receiving funds on web sites and cell functions, in addition to assortment and disbursement of bulk funds.
Based in 2015 by then ESMT-Dakar college students Aziz Yérima, Youma Fall, Christian Palouki and Honoré Hounwanou, collectively from Senegal, Togo and Ivory Coast, the corporate relies in Dakar.
It processes funds for enterprises together with Jeune Afrique, VFS World, SUNU Assurances, Dubai Port Dakar, Sky Mali and YAS.
Yérima stated PayDunya was worthwhile early on, turning €20,000 of bootstrap financing into an organization that now employs greater than 40 individuals and serves greater than 4,000 business-to-business clients. It processes 70,000 transactions day by day.
With robust unit economics, PayDunya was worthwhile in its third 12 months and has elevated its revenues yearly since.
In accordance with Statista, income within the West African e-commerce market is projected to achieve $15.33bn, with 47.7-million customers, by 2029. Consumer penetration is predicted to achieve 12.5% by 2029 and the typical income per consumer is forecast at $330.96.
In February 2024 Peach Funds purchased expertise for
in-store funds from Exipay and in June that 12 months it purchased buyer software program improvement agency Operativa to spice up its engineering operations.
The PayDunya deal is predicted to be accomplished inside the subsequent few months, pending normal closing circumstances and procedures.
gavazam@businesslive.co.za
