Baobab Payments GmbH, trading as Peach Payments, has concluded a US$30-million funding round and plans Africa-wide expansion.
The round, announced in April 2023, was led by Apis Growth Fund II, a private equity fund managed by UK-based asset manager Apis Partners. The deal received approval from South Africa’s Competition Commission in May,
Peach Payments is a digital payment service provider that enables online payments in Africa. It was founded in 2011 in Cape Town by Rahul Jain and Andreas Demleitner, and joined the Google Umbono accelerator program in 2012.
Rahul Jain, CEO and co-founder of Peach Payments, says the raised funding will be used to accelerate growth, develop new products, and expand into additional African countries. This includes doubling down on existing markets – South Africa, Kenya and Mauritius – to increase market share, expand the team, and introduce new products.
Peach Payments' value proposition lies in enabling businesses to expand into new regions without the need for a new payment partner. The payment platform hopes to expand this functionality across the continent’s 54 countries, some with as many as 12 payment methods, including credit cards, debit cards, instant EFTs, multiple buy-now-pay-later options, and electronic vouchers.
“For businesses targeting consumers across Africa, this fragmentation in payment methods and stores of value makes it incredibly complicated to accept payments in their digital channel,” Jain explains. “Peach Payments already abstracts that complexity for merchants in the countries where we are operational. We want to expand this to more African countries and are evaluating a number at this time.”
He says consumers will benefit from having an easy online payment experience with enterprise-grade security and access to cross-border payments. This will allow them to buy goods and services internationally while using local payment methods.
For merchants, having ccess to the Peach payment platform will bring additional opportunities to expand their businesses internationally.
Matteo Stefanel, co-founder and managing partner at Apis Partners, says the asset managing firm continues to see significant opportunities for digital payments across key markets in Africa.
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