Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Startups in Africa

PayitUp is Facilitating Payment Services in Zimbabwe

Startups in Africa are speeding up with constant innovations to create wealth as well as jobs, paying taxes, igniting the entrepreneurial spark among their peers, and most importantly, playing vital roles in the continent’s economic transformation.

One of such unique startups is PayitUp, a fintech startup founded in 2017 by Aretha Gonyora, Kenneth Tafadzwa Matikizha and Ronald Tapfuma Rwodzi in Zimbabwe. The startup facilitates different payment services on the web and mobile application, it processes payments for DStv, broadband and airtime.

In the words of the startup’s CEO, Aretha Gonyora “Our goal is to build a more connected financial life for the African people and beyond. Through our mobile and web applications our customers will be able to pay for various goods and services, access loans, investments insurance and a wide range of financial products. We will be working towards financial inclusion for all and maximizing on technology. A lot of people still do not have access to basic financial services, while the people with access to banking services are not fully capitalizing on the power of technology”.

In 2019, the startup joined the league of few startups in Africa to secure a whopping $13 million Series A fund from London’s Thawer Fund Management. They secured the fund at a $20 million valuation with the aim of leveraging the fund to develop its system and also to form strategic partnerships with regulators to provide value to their customers via refunds and competitive fees.

The funding is also meant to help the startup develop system and operations, to recruit partners across various verticals and stands to benefit more from its relationship with Thawer Fund Management apart from the obvious financial benefits.

The startup also plans to remain focused on Zimbabwe in the meantime, but also plans to open its platform to customers in various Southern African countries, and ultimately the rest of Africa in the next 5 years.

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