For businesses navigating the intricate web of online transactions across the African continent, the reality is often a frustrating patchwork of disparate payment methods and fragmented systems. From mobile money to bank transfers and card payments, the sheer diversity presents a considerable obstacle to achieving seamless financial flows. However, a South African startup, NjiaPay, is stepping forward with a determined vision: to unify this fragmented landscape through a single, streamlined integration. Armed with a recent $1.3 million pre-seed funding injection, the company is banking on its intimate understanding of the African payments ecosystem to carve out a significant niche.
Founded just last year by Jonatan Allback, the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, and Roderick Simons, the co-founder and Chief Product and Technology Officer, NjiaPay aims to simplify the online payment experience for African businesses. “We operate as a payments-as-a-service company,” Allback told Launch Base Africa. “Our core offering is to help African businesses simplify and streamline their online payments by providing them with a single, seamless integration — one point of contact for all their needs.” This unified integration grants access to NjiaPay’s payment management platform, designed to consolidate the complexities of dealing with multiple payment providers into a singular, manageable system.
NjiaPay’s origins are closely tied to Talk360, a prominent African startup in the communication space. “Essentially, NjiaPay is a spin-off from Talk360,” Allback said. While Talk360 retains a stake in the new venture, NjiaPay operates as an independent entity. Allback brings a wealth of experience to the table, boasting 15 years in the payments sector, including over eight years at the Dutch payment giant Adyen. “I joined Adyen in 2012 when they had around 100 employees and departed in 2021 when the team had grown to 2,000. I witnessed significant growth firsthand,” he noted, highlighting his deep understanding of scaling within the payments industry. Last year, Allback said, NjiaPay served as the exclusive payment provider for Talk360, processing their entire transaction volume, indicating a substantial initial base of operations.
The recent $1.3 million pre-seed funding round, which surpassed the initial $1 million target, was spearheaded by Cape Town-based VC firm HAVAÍC, with participation from Renew Capital and several angel investors. “Most of the angel investors are from Europe and Africa,” Allback said.
Currently, NjiaPay operates in Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa, with the latter identified as its primary market. For Allback, South Africa is NjiaPay’s key market for several reasons. “It’s a very mature market within Africa. It also features a significant number of payment service providers, and our target clients are primarily in the mid-market,” he said.
NjiaPay’s strategic focus on small to medium-sized enterprises, rather than large corporations, is a deliberate choice. “Some mid-market companies, with monthly transaction volumes ranging from half a million to one million rand, may still need to integrate with two to three different payment service providers. This can be due to performance considerations or the need to cover a wider range of payment methods, significantly increasing complexity,” Allback said. Furthermore, Allback pointed out that “certain payment service providers in South Africa cannot process transactions in U.S. dollars. In such cases, businesses might be compelled to work with companies like PayPal, which can charge transaction fees of almost 10% — a substantial cost.” NjiaPay aims to offer a more efficient and cost-effective alternative.
While South Africa remains the central focus, NjiaPay is also keenly aware of the nuances in other African markets. In Kenya, where “M-Pesa dominates the payment landscape with an 85% market share,” NjiaPay’s strategy is to “enable clients wanting to sell into Kenya to offer M-Pesa as a payment option.” Nigeria presents a different set of challenges. Despite the recent devaluation of the country’s currency and certain regulatory restrictions, NjiaPay has found a way to facilitate transactions for merchants there through established partnerships.
The African fintech sector is a dynamic and competitive environment, but NjiaPay believes its specific focus and accumulated experience provide a distinct advantage. Allback identified competitors such as “MoneyHash from Northern Africa,” which primarily targets the North Africa and Middle East region and focuses on enterprise clients. He also mentioned “Moment, a South African joint venture between Rapyd and MultiChoice, with pan-African ambitions,” but also largely geared towards enterprise-level businesses.
“From our perspective, with our focus on mid-market clients, we currently lack direct competitors in some of the markets where we operate,” Allback asserted. While also acknowledging the presence of companies like “DLocal, which also leans towards the enterprise space,” he emphasized that NjiaPay’s “focus on mid-market and smaller enterprise companies is what truly sets us apart, as this is how Talk360 initially developed NjiaPay.”
“We understand the pain points of dealing with six different payment service providers across Africa, the challenges of maintaining all those integrations, navigating various merchant PSP portals, and reconciling data from six different settlement reports. This direct experience is a key reason why we built NjiaPay. Our deep knowledge of the payments landscape is a crucial differentiating factor,” Allback said.
Looking ahead, NjiaPay’s immediate priorities are product development and forging strategic partnerships. “This year, our focus is on expanding the features and functionality of our platform and potentially adding one or two partnerships that align with our goal of helping online businesses grow,” Allback stated.
The recently secured capital provides flexibility for future expansion. “The initial target for the round was 1 million, but we were able to raise 1.3 million, which gives enough flexibility for now,” Allback said. While the company currently has a team in South Africa, with its engineering team located elsewhere, the plan is to “expand the team” following the seed round, aligning with their primary customer base.
Allback is highly optimistic about the African fintech landscape.
“One of the biggest opportunities I see is from a regulatory standpoint — if some regulators will allow more fintech companies to play a vital and more important role in the ecosystem,” he noted, pointing to South Africa’s recent move allowing non-banks to become acquirers as a positive development. “I am very excited to see where Africa will be in the next five years on the fintech side because I believe that learning from the experiences of the rest of the world will help some African countries just leapfrog in the fintech space.”
With a solid foundation, a clear vision, and fresh capital, NjiaPay stands poised to make a significant impact on the African online payment landscape, potentially empowering countless businesses to thrive in the burgeoning digital economy.