Prominent South African payments company raises R1 billion

South Africa-based payments infrastructure company Stitch has announced a $55 million (R1.04 billion) Series B funding round led by QED Investors.

According to Stitch, this will enable its fast-growing team to expand its in-person payments offering, move into the acquiring space, and further bolster its online payments suite.

Stitch said this will allow it to better serve enterprise merchants across all payment needs. This round brings its total funding to $107 million (R2.02 billion) in four years.

The company said the funding round added significant global investment power, including QED Investors, Flourish Ventures, Norrsken22 and Glynn Capital.

Its current list of backers includes Ribbit Capital, PayPal Ventures, Firstminute Capital, and angels such as Trevor Noah.

“Having closely followed the Stitch team over the past four years, it’s been impressive to watch their rapid growth and execution in becoming a trusted payment provider,” said QED Investors Partner and Head of Africa and the Middle East Gbenga Ajayi.

“Stitch has consistently delivered world-class payment solutions, empowering global merchants with seamless, reliable and innovative experiences.”

Ajayi said Stitch’s ongoing expansion from a payment service provider to a comprehensive payments partner demonstrates its ability to anticipate market needs and execute at scale.

“At QED Investors, we’re thrilled to partner with such visionary founders, confident that Stitch will continue to set new standards in the payments industry across Africa and beyond,” said Ajayi.

Stitch is not the only fintech startup in South Africa to have raised substantial sums on the promise of expanding into the rest of Africa.

Before Ozow raised $48 million (R746 million at the time) in its Series B funding round, which was led by Chinese internet and technology giant Tencent, it also promised an African expansion.

Ozow said at the time that it would use some of the funds for mergers and acquisitions, as well as its pan-African expansion to Namibia, Ghana, Nigeria, and Kenya within six months.

However, it did not deliver on that promise. It will therefore be interesting to see whether Stitch follows through on its African expansion plans after its latest funding round.

Stitch said its team was currently focused on expanding its in-person payments solution, which was launched with the acquisition of ExiPay in 2025, and will soon add acquiring to its services list.

The upcoming move into acquiring means Stitch will be able to offer its clients an end-to-end card product with full control over the whole product lifecycle.

Stitch said it already serves some of the leading enterprises in South Africa, including Takealot, Mr. D, MTN, Vodacom, Standard Bank’s Shyft, TFG’s Bash, Hollywoodbets, Luno, and The Courier Guy.