Johannesburg, April 2021: South African fintech Peach Payments has netted
additional investments to capitalise on accelerated e-commerce growth over the last
year.
The funding round was again led by Umkhathi Wethu Ventures (UW Ventures) in partnership with Allan Gray – with other existing investors participating as well. Mauritian fund Launch Africa Ventures has also joined in as an investor in this round of funding.
Co-founder Rahul Jain says that these investments are earmarked for growth acceleration outside of South Africa as well as scaling up the business’s current products and services, operational and engineering teams. “This new investment round is a great indicator of the confidence our investors have in our core business model and hypothesis. Peach set solid growth targets for itself in 2020, and we far outperformed those expectations. While COVID and the acceleration of digital commerce provided strong tailwinds for the business - we doubled down during 2020 and invested heavily into identified growth areas to make the most of the opportunities.
“These investments effectively mean that we are able to not only meet the demand that the current environment provides but also create enhanced services for our customers – in South Africa and beyond its borders – as well as the technical and staff resources required to meet that demand. It is optimal for us to grow now.”
Peach Payments saw a rapid increase of 400% in customer acquisition last year and revenue growth of 130%.
Andreas Demleitner, Co-founder of Peach Payments, says that while the fintech’s original vision to “bring a world-class payments solution to businesses in Africa” has not changed, it has expanded to “meet the customer where they do business digitally, be it on an e-commerce site, app, sms, or mobile phone, and make it easier for them to succeed.”
Demleitner says growth into Africa is key, and while scaling up current operations in Kenya and Mauritius, the team is investigating opportunities in other East and West African countries.
Harry Apostoleris, Co-Founder at UW Ventures, says Peach Payments’ growth over the last year “reflects the company’s commitment to supporting merchants in building and adapting their businesses, especially during the digital acceleration we have experienced over the last 12 months. We are excited to continue supporting the company’s mission and their ambitions of building an enduring pan-African enterprise underpinned by world class technology.”
Launch Africa Ventures – a Pan-African venture fund investing specifically in B2B and B2B2C tech start-ups – says that its investment into Peach Payments will ensure that “advanced technology feeds the potential for African e-commerce to thrive beyond South Africa. In many ways, this is not just an investment into one company but into the ecosystem that companies like Peach Payments are building. For that reason, we are excited to partner with Peach Payments in their incredible journey” says Baljinder Sharma, Director.
Beyond this, Peach Payments has also focused support on its new customers while making business easier for its more experienced customers. While Jain says that future growth projections are just as encouraging in 2021, providing support structures that enable customer growth is critical. “Sharing knowledge is as important as sharing tech if digital commerce is to truly become the hero of these extraordinary times,” says Jain. “At Peach Payments, our commitment, as we grow, is to both.”