ArifPay bags $3.5 million in funding

Ethiopia: The newly-launched ArifPay, Ethiopia’s first mobile point of sale (MPOS) system, has raised US$3.5 million in funding as it begins nationwide rollout.

Built by the team behind the taxi app ZayRide, ArifPay was established as a business in February and will launch operations in April once it receives its license from the National Bank of Ethiopia – the first one for a fintech startup in the country.

The startup has developed an MPOS system that will allow ATM cardholders to make electronic transactions on smartphones and aims to deliver convenient, innovative, safe, and secure payment processing services and platforms to the Ethiopian market.

ArifPay has raised US$3.5 million in funding from 31 individual investors to support it in its early stages of rollout and growth.

“The company intends to launch MPOS, gateway and related digital financial services in Ethiopia by leveraging the latest MPOS and online payment technology platform in the industry and developing user-oriented products and services that will allow people to use their mobile phone and their payment instruments for conducting financial services including payments,” founder and chief executive officer (CEO) Habtamu Tadesse told Disrupt Africa.

“Once operational, ArifPay aspires to make a significant contribution to the financial sector by offering digital-based payments services that meet the needs of consumers and merchants towards cash-lite transactions in line with the national agenda of the digital economy. We also believe ArifPay will support the country’s aspiration towards building a digital economy by empowering businesses and entrepreneurs who are looking for digital payment solutions to digitalize their business and services deliveries.”