Payitup, a Harare based payments start-up has clinched a US$13 million Series-A investment from London’s Thawer Fund Management. Their Chief Executive Officer Aretha Gonyora divulged the good news.
According to Aretha, the start-up plans to use the funding to further develop its systems as well as to form strategic partnerships to ensure regulatory compliance and provision of value to the customers. This will be in the form of rebates and competitive fees. Pay it up currently employs about 10 people and plans are to grow this number by recruiting more specialists.
Background
Payitup was founded by Aretha Gonyora, Chief Operations Officer Kenneth Tafadzwa and President Ronald Tapfuma Rwodzi in 2017. Although the actual volume of payments that Payitup currently handles is not clear, they have a five-year product roadmap which is under review. Speaking to Ventureburn, a digital publishing house focusing on technology and other sectors, Aretha said, “The final version of the application will allow users to invest in our partner trading platform, earn through our strategic partners and make a wide range of payments.” It is interesting to note that this particular funding was secured at a valuation of $20 million. Among other things, the company enables consumers to make payments to Multichoice for DSTV services and their plan is to aggregate various payment services on the web and mobile application.
Having raised its seed capital from its founding members, the US$13 million Series-A investment is Payitup’s first major deal. Going forward, Gonyora says they are planning to raise a second round of funding after completion of their systems development. However, she could not divulge the timeline for this second funding. But, the excitement of having clinched the $13 million is there for all to see. In a Facebook post on 7th September 2019, Payitup said, “To all our valued customers, we are excited to share with you some great news. We have recently been funded towards our goal to provide you with innovative and convenient financial solutions. The future is bright with Payitup.”
We expect that this funding will help scale up the services offered by Payitup. Many have been struggling with DSTV payments which are only accepted in US dollars only by banks and other service providers. These and other payment headaches are what Payitup seeks to eradicate.