Fintech startup littlefish raises $9.5 M Series A funding to power merchant infrastructure for African banks

Littlefish, a South African fintech startup that powers the connections between Africa’s largest banks and the merchant class, has closed a US $9.5 million Series a funding round as it strives to change the way financial institutions assist small and medium-sized enterprises throughout the continent.

Littlefish, a merchant operating system based in Johannesburg, was co-founded in 2021 by Brandon Roberts and Miod Davith Kahwa. It turns small businesses into digital enterprises and acquiring banks into fintechs. Littlefish makes it possible for the biggest financial institutions in Africa to provide unified, digital-first merchant services at scale by integrating directly into POS devices and core banking systems.

The platform is situated at the nexus of commerce enablement and banking infrastructure. Point-of-sale applications, back-office CRMs, merchant portals, payments, and APIs are all combined into a single orchestration layer by its commerce layer, which connects directly to POS devices and core banking systems.

TLcom Capital, Flourish Ventures, Proparco, and Partech led the US$9.5 million Series A round; TLcom and Flourish also participated in Littlefish’s most recent investment round in 2024.

Littlefish is expanding its workforce, speeding up product development, and expanding its go-to-market operations with the new funding. In addition to growing its presence in more than ten other African markets, including Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Zambia, the company will strengthen its ties with current South African banking customers and merchants.

Standard Bank, First National Bank (FNB), and Absa are among the tier 1 financial institutions that the startup currently serves. Additionally, it has a significant partnership with Visa, which has integrated Littlefish’s platform into the onboarding process for small businesses. Since its seed round, Littlefish’s recurring monthly revenue has increased 30 times.

“This raise is a validation of our belief that the best way to serve Africa’s small businesses is to work with the institutions they already trust, not around them,” said Roberts. “We’ve proven the model in South Africa, and this capital gives us the runway to deepen those relationships and bring what we’ve built to millions more merchants across the continent. The little guys deserve world-class financial infrastructure, too, and we’re building it.”

Matthieu Marchand, principal at Partech, said littlefish had done something rare.

“It has built indispensable infrastructure and convinced Africa’s most powerful financial institutions to stake their merchant businesses on it,” he said. “With the deep trust littlefish has already established in South Africa and a clear path to expansion across more than 10 markets, we believe the company is positioned to become the defining merchant infrastructure layer for the continent. We’re proud to lead this round and support the team as they scale.”