Floatpays Raises $4m Seed Funding Round For African Expansion

South African on-demand pay provider Floatpays has secured just under US$4 million in an oversubscribed seed funding round to help it expand across Africa.

Having seen 43 per cent growth in its employer base and a 70 per cent increase in users since taking part in Y Combinator, the startup has raised a seed round worth almost US$4 million from investors including Global Founders Capital, Base Capital, Finca Ventures, Raba Partnership and 4DX Ventures, as well as angels Alan Rutledge, Shaun Hurwitz, Youcef Oudjidane and Olugbenga Agboola, the co-founder and CEO of Flutterwave.

The new investors join existing backers Founders Factory Africa, Kepple Africa Ventures, Norrsken Foundation and MFS Investments.

Simon Ward, founder of Floatpays stated: “The investment allows us to consolidate our position in South Africa and expand into the rest of Africa. We are accelerating the development of important features that complement our existing product, such as our new interest-bearing savings account that is directly linked to employees’ paychecks.”

George Rzepecki Raba Partnership founder added: “Floatpays is a leader in the earned wage space and on their way to building the leading trusted brand across the continent. We are excited to partner with Simon and team in supporting Floatpay’s mission in becoming the financial services platform of choice for Africa’s large and growing workforce.”

“I launched Floatpays as a social impact-driven business on a mission to help move employees out of bad debt cycles and into savings and long term financial wellness. Our mission is to educate employees on better personal finance management, support them with financial planning and saving, and give them an alternative to payday lenders or high-interest credit solutions when mid-pay cycle liquidity becomes a problem,” Ward added.