$4 M seed funding raised by SA fintech startup Floatpays for African expansion

Floatpays, a South African on-demand payment company, has raised just under $4 million in an oversubscribed seed round to help it grow across Africa.

Floatpays is a digital platform that offers on-demand access to pay, seamless savings functionality, and financial education to enhance employee financial health. It was founded in 2019 and is a participant in the S21 cohort of the Silicon Valley-based Y Combinator incubator.

Since participating in Y Combinator, the startup has grown its employer base by 43% and its user base by 70%, raising a seed round worth nearly US $4 million from investors including Global Founders Capital, Base Capital, Finca Ventures, Raba Partnership, and 4DX Ventures, as well as angels Alan Rutledge, Shaun Hurwitz, Youcef Oudjidane, and Olugbenga.

“The investment allows us to consolidate our position in South Africa and expand into the rest of Africa. We are accelerating the development of important features that complement our existing product, such as our new interest-bearing savings account that is directly linked to employees’ paychecks,” said Simon Ward, founder of Floatpays.

“Floatpays is a leader in the earned wage space and on their way to building the leading trusted brand across the continent. We are excited to partner with Simon and team in supporting Floatpay’s mission in becoming the financial services platform of choice for Africa’s large and growing workforce,” he said.

Founders Factory Africa, Kepple Africa Ventures, Norrsken Foundation, and MFS Investments are among the existing funders.

Raba Partnership was an early investor or partner in companies like Flutterwave and Yoco, and founder George Rzepecki expressed excitement about the possibility of technology in providing fair and transparent financial services.

Floatpays was founded as a “little startup with huge goals to build a financially inclusive Africa,” according to Ward.

“I launched Floatpays as a social impact-driven business on a mission to help move employees out of bad debt cycles and into savings and long-term financial wellness. Our mission is to educate employees on better personal finance management, support them with financial planning and saving, and give them an alternative to payday lenders or high-interest credit solutions when mid-pay cycle liquidity becomes a problem,” he said.