Funding

South African Fintech Peach Payments Raises $31M in Series A Funding to Expand Across Africa 

Apis Partners LLP, a UK-based asset management firm, has announced plans to invest $31 million in Baobab Payments GmbH, doing business as Peach Payments. The investment is still subject to approval by the South African Competition Commission and standard closing conditions. Peach Payments is South Africa’s second largest internet payment gateway, with operations in Kenya and Mauritius and a workforce of approximately 150 global professionals.

Peach Payments has experienced rapid growth in recent years, with revenue increasing by over 650% since 2020 and by 80% in 2022 alone. The funds will be used to expand into new African markets, strengthen its product lineup, and improve its basic value proposition to merchants.

At Peach Payments, our mission is to enable African businesses and entrepreneurs to succeed in digital commerce. We want to be the infrastructure layer they build their business on. This was our original vision when we started and is more relevant today than ever,” Peach Payments co-founder and CEO Rahul Jain said.

“We’ve witnessed incredible growth in the past three years driven by fundamental forces and shifts in consumer and business adoption of digital commerce. Across market segments – from retail to digital learning, fitness, and even traditional financial services – we’ve onboarded new clients in almost every vertical. We’ve built a very strong team with exceptional operators, and I am excited to partner with the team at Apis and take this business to where it deserves to be. The Apis team brings an incredible wealth of experience in fintech across the globe, and we look forward to exploring exponential opportunities together with them.”

“We have been impressed by the vision and execution of the management team as Peach Payments capitalizes on these trends to bring more end-users into the digital economy, a key part of our drive to democratize access across the continent. We look forward to partnering with Peach Payments to expand its reach into new markets with innovative merchant solutions,” he said.

Apis Partners’ co-founder and managing partner, Matteo Stefanel, has expressed optimism about the prospects of African payments. Fundamental and ongoing trends, such as the adoption of digital payments over physical currency and the shift from traditional in-person transactions to online channels, he claims, dominate critical markets. These trends are expected to continue, pointing to a bright future for the African payments industry.

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