Peach Payments Takes On FinTech Expansion In Africa

South African FinTech Peach Payments announced on Wednesday (Oct. 5) plans to expand its business to Kenya and Nigeria.

The three-year-old startup, which facilitates online and mobile payments in emerging markets, confirmed it is processing more than R1-billion in transactions per year.

Peach Payments recently launched a new service aimed at helping businesses collect invoices and payments globally, called PaySafe. The solution is designed for businesses that may not be online, but still want access to facilitating payments online, Finextra reported.

“Peach PaySafe allows users to improve their cash flows and dramatically reduce administrative costs associated with collecting payments whilst making the transaction much safer,” the startup’s co-founder Rahul Jain said.

“Our solutions address the pain points of traditional payment methods and are geared to the realities of the African market. One of the biggest challenges businesses in emerging economies face is that traditional online payment systems in Europe and the United States were developed in and for these markets. Despite there being many players in the payments solutions space, the dire need for advanced payment platforms in developing countries presented us with a tremendous opportunity,” he continued.

With Peach Payments, businesses are able to accept a variety of payment methods across multiple channels, including website, mobile sites and mobile apps.

“During the checkout process, the user never leaves the merchant’s website – the payment widget is securely embedded into the checkout procedure on the site. This sets Peach Payments apart from many online payment systems that take the user to another website, a payment gateway, to complete the payment,” Jain stated.

Peach Payment’s expansion into the Nigerian market is not surprise, as the area has quickly gained recognition for its growing FinTech presence.

Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg visited sub-Saharan Africa for the first time in August, shining a huge spotlight on the growing tech center within Nigeria. Not only did Zuckerberg’s visit bring a boost to Nigerian startups, but it solidified that the tech scene in Lagos may be one to watch out for.

“The thing that is striking is the entrepreneurial energy. I think, when you’re trying to build something, what matters the most is who wants it the most. This is where the future is going to be built,” Zuckerberg said during his recent visit to Nigeria.

The tech mogul praised the work being done with mobile money to build businesses and help communities throughout the continent. Zuckerberg met with engineers and developers, as well as visited innovation hubs, to get an inside look at the tech ecosystem in some of Africa’s most bustling cities.