Fintech
News
+2
Mar 20, 2026
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4 min read
The R30 Billion Pivot: How Three South Africans Built BVNK and Sold It to Mastercard
The BVNK Mastercard acquisition for R30 billion, roughly $1.8 billion, is a massive moment for South African entrepreneurship. It isn’t just about the money; it’s about three South Africans building a company in just five years and selling it to one of the biggest financial names on the planet. This deal is officially the largest stablecoin acquisition ever, even beating out Stripe’s billion-dollar purchase of Bridge.
News
+1
Mar 18, 2026
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5 min read
The Cape Town FinTech Powering SA's Biggest Checkouts Is Now Preparing Them for AI
Stitch processes payments for FlySafair, TFG's Bash and EasyEquities. It just added Apple Pay and Google Pay to FlySafair's app this week. But the more interesting move is what it published three weeks ago: an architectural warning to SA's CTOs that the next wave of commerce won't involve humans at all.
News
+2
Mar 16, 2026
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6 min read
Optasia's First JSE Results: 76% Revenue Growth, 432 Million Users, and an Answer to the Exit Question
Optasia has delivered its maiden full-year results since listing on the JSE in November 2025. Revenue surged 76% to $265 million. Adjusted EBITDA hit $115 million. The user base passed 432 million across 38 countries. And the default rate on $5.5 billion in distributed value held at 1.2%. For an ecosystem that has been asking whether the JSE can support tech listings, this is the strongest answer so far.
News
+2
Mar 16, 2026
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5 min read
It's Not Who You Are, It's Who You're Paying: How Discovery Bank Cut EFT Fraud by 80%
Discovery Bank has reduced EFT fraud by 80% since October 2025, using an AI system that monitors 9.5 million data events daily and does something most fraud tools don't: it analyses the beneficiary, not just the sender. If people like you don't normally pay that recipient, or if that recipient has been flagged across Discovery's client base, the system intervenes. Medium risk gets a warning. High risk gets blocked.
News
+1
Mar 10, 2026
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6 min read
Orca Fraud Raises R38M to Stop Payment Fraud Across 70 Countries: Built by Two Former Stitch Engineers
Cape Town-based Orca Fraud has closed an oversubscribed $2.35 million (R38 million) seed round led by Norrsken22 to scale its real-time fraud intelligence platform. Founded 16 months ago by former Stitch engineers Thalia Pillay and Carla Wilby, the startup already monitors over $5 billion in monthly transaction volume across 70+ countries. The pitch: global fraud tools weren't built for mobile wallets, agent banking, and African payment rails. Orca was.
News
+1
Mar 10, 2026
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5 min read
Capitec Pulse: The AI Tool That Knows Why You're Calling Before You Say a Word
Capitec has launched an AI system called Pulse that analyses your payment data, app diagnostics, and risk signals in real time to tell the call centre agent what's wrong before you explain it. In a three-month pilot, it cut call handling times by 18% and lifted net agent efficiency by 26%. The bank claims it's a world first, though that claim deserves some scrutiny.
News
+1
Mar 9, 2026
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5 min read
NjiaPay Raises $2.1M to Fix Africa's Broken Payment Routing: Talk360's 25% Conversion Jump Shows Why
Cape Town and Amsterdam-based NjiaPay has closed a $2.1 million seed round led by European B2B SaaS investor Newion, roughly a year after an oversubscribed $1 million pre-seed. The startup builds a payment orchestration layer that sits on top of existing payment providers and routes transactions to whichever one performs best. After implementing it, international calling app Talk360 cut six PSP integrations to one and saw checkout conversions rise 25%.
News
+1
Mar 9, 2026
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5 min read
Fintura Closes Pre-Seed Round to Build an All-in-One AI Platform for SA Accountants
The Startup World Cup winner that went to Silicon Valley has now closed its pre-seed round, backed by former Kalon Venture Partners CEO Clive Butkow, Ridwaan Boda, and Jozi Angels. Fintura is building a single platform to replace the four to six disconnected tools most SA accounting firms use daily. The round size wasn't disclosed, but the investor names tell you the smart money thinks this vertical is real.
News
+1
Feb 20, 2026
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3 min read
Araxi Acquires Pay@ in R1 Billion Fintech Deal
The R1 billion transaction marks one of the largest recent fintech acquisitions in South Africa
News
+1
Feb 9, 2026
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4 min read
Lesaka Finally Turns a Profit: The End-User Play is Paying Off
Lesaka posted its first profit since 2022. Here’s how cutting low-margin businesses and refocusing the model away from B2B and onto trusted B2C made it work
News
+1
Feb 5, 2026
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3 min read
Why ZARU Stablecoin Launch Signals Institutional Shift In South Africa’s Crypto Market
Luno, Sanlam, EasyEquities and Lesaka have launched ZARU, a rand-backed stablecoin designed for institutional settlement and cross-border payments
News
+1
Feb 5, 2026
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2 min read
FMO Invests R340m’s Local-Currency Funding In Lula
South African SME lender Lula has secured R340 million in funding from FMO, strengthening its ability to expand fast, data-driven lending to SMEs
News
+1
Feb 3, 2026
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3 min read
SA’s Orca & Petl Pay (Rafiki) Selected For Visa Africa's FinTech Accelerator
Two South African-founded FinTech startups, Orca and Petl Pay (formerly Rafiki OS), have been selected for the fifth cohort of the Visa Africa Fintech Accelerator, joining 18 companies from 28 African markets in the latest intake
