Sticitt, a South African finance firm, has received an oversubscribed round of early capital to help it expand.
Sticitt Pay, a simple payment system co-founded by Theo Kitshoff, Mitch Dart, and Dennis Wevel in January 2018, streamlines payments within the South African education industry by providing niche groups with an alternative payment solution to cash, formal banking, and card-based payments.
Sticitt, which is primarily focused on the education industry, earned $250,000 in funding in 2020 and has now received a strategic investment from a consortium led by Nustate Capital Ventures in a seed round that was 1.5X oversubscribed. Grindstone Ventures, Nustate Capital Ventures, Hlayisani Capital, Realm Digital, and GalloProvincialis are among the investing consortium’s members.
“Financial education is crucial for economic growth and gives someone the chance of a better tomorrow using money as an enabling tool in their lives. Our first product, Sticitt Pay, a cashless payment platform, offers schools an integrated smart payment system that is safe and easy to use and is the first important step in our journey to simplify education-related payments and building toward a youth banking alternative. This funding round will help us reach more schools, parents, and learners and enable our expanded product roadmap centred around education-related payments and youth banking,” said Theo Kitshoff, CEO of Sticitt.
South Africa has one of the lowest household saving rates in the world, according to Dr Eugene van Rensburg, partner at Hlayisani Capital and Sticitt director. This has a direct impact on the country’s potential to achieve substantial GDP growth and renders individuals vulnerable to economic shocks.
“Using user-centric financial technology to make the fundamentals of personal finance more accessible to the youth, and their families are essential in improving the socio-economic outlook for all South Africans. With this investment, Sticitt is able to accelerate its product development, schools’ deployment and significantly contribute to the upliftment of learners, their parents, and schools,” he said.
