$660k raised by SA fintech startup Lipa Payments to help scale contactless platform
Lipa Payments, a South African fintech company that is bringing the “tap to pay” experience to the informal sector with software that allows retailers to take contactless payments straight from a mobile phone, has acquired ZAR10 million (US $660,000) in investment to help it grow.
Lipa Payments, founded by Thando Hlongwane and Roger Bukuru in 2019, intends to change the way the informal sector exchanges products and services. Small retailers can take digital payments utilizing NFC and Bluetooth technologies, thanks to the startup’s payment software solution for banks and fintechs.
Empowerment Capital’s Imvelo Ventures, which is sponsored by Capitec Bank, has invested ZAR10 million (US $660,000) in the firm. Lipa Payments will use the funds to expand its solution across the country.
“We see tech as a scalable tool to solve everyday challenges. Lipa Payments solves two. First, we give small-scale merchants low-cost technology to accept digital payments at the point of sale and secondly, we allow buyers of goods and services to pay digitally without having to worry about cash or network coverage,” said Hlongwane.
“Informal sector merchants have traditionally relied on customers having cash on hand to transact, but Lipa Payments is changing that. There are obvious constraints to trading with cash and it is only getting more difficult in a digital, cashless global economy,” Bukuru added.
Francois Dempers, Capitec Bank’s manager of innovation and digital strategy, stated that partnering with fintech startups was a crucial component of his company’s strategy for accelerating the delivery of its service and creating new opportunities through collaborations.
“Lipa Payments was selected as one such investment through our Imvelo venture capital fund. They are a young, dynamic, and agile team of tech entrepreneurs who have an intuitive grasp of the unique operating environments in Africa and how to apply technology to enable people to live better,” he said.
