Lipa Payments Raises $660k To Help Scale Contactless Platform
The South African fintech startup has developed a payment software solution for banks and fintechs that allows small merchants to accept digital payments using NFC and Bluetooth technology.
Lipa Payments said it has raised ZAR10 million (US$660,000) in funding to help it scale. The startup, which is bringing the “tap to pay” experience to informal sectors with its software solution that enables merchants to accept contactless payments directly from a mobile phone,
The startup has now secured a ZAR10 million (US$660,000) investment from Empowerment Capital’s Imvelo Ventures, which is backed by Capitec Bank. The funding will help Lipa Payments roll out its solution across South Africa and Nigeria in 2022.
Thando Hlongwane, Lipa Payments Founder said: “We see tech as a scalable tool to solve everyday challenges. Lipa Payments solves two. First, we give small-scale merchants low-cost technology to accept digital payments at the point of sale and secondly, we allow buyers of goods and services to pay digitally without having to worry about cash or network coverage.”
Roger Bukuru Lipa Payments Co-founder added: “Informal sector merchants have traditionally relied on customers having cash on hand to transact, but Lipa Payments is changing that. There are obvious constraints to trading with cash and it is only getting more difficult in a digital, cashless global economy.”
Francois Dempers, manager of innovation and digital strategy at Capitec Bank, noted: “Lipa Payments was selected as one such investment through our Imvelo venture capital fund. They are a young, dynamic, and agile team of tech entrepreneurs who have an intuitive grasp of the unique operating environments in Africa and how to apply technology to enable people to live better.”