Zimbabwean Fintech Startup Payitup Scores USD 13 Mn In A Thawer Fund Series A
Zimbabwean fintech startup Payitup has raised a Series A round of USD 13 Mn from London’s Thawer Fund Management. The Harare-based payment firm who will use the investment to develop its platform, was valued at USD 20 Mn during the raise.
Zimbabwe Fintech, Payitup Secures $13m Series-A Funding from Thawer Fund Management https://t.co/efYeeevCPE pic.twitter.com/iJTBqWfMM9— Tweety Chinwe (@TweetLikeChinwe) May 10, 2019
The company which was founded in 2017 seeks to aggregate a variety of payment services on a web and mobile application. The actual size of the investment remained an initial mystery, but Crunchbase later reported that the single round involved USD 13 Mn, and the figure was maintained by Ventureburn.
Payitup will also use the funding to form strategic partnerships to afford compliance with regulators while providing value to its customers in the form of rebates and competitive fees, the founder, revealed in this report.
The narrative from the investor, as reported by Techzim, says: We are extremely delighted to be a part of such a vibrant, deeply rooted culture led by a dynamic and intelligent team that has a bold ambition to deliver superior service to its clientele. Our investment as a foreign institutional fund solidifies a long term partnership to all parties engaged across various disciplines”.
This investment is one of the most significant rounds to be landed by an African fintech. While Nigerian TeamApt raised USD 5 Mn and OneFi secured USD 5.5 Mn in a one-month space this year, Payitup joins other big-ticket startups such as Paga (USD 10 Mn), Flutterwave (USD 20 Mn), Paystack (USD 8 Mn), Lydia (USD 6.9 Mn), Jumo, (USD 52 Mn), and, of course, Branch International (USD 170 Mn).
This funding development is definitely a milestone for Southern African fintechs and startups in general, and given the startup’s drive to broaden its horizons, the investment comes at a significant time.
