Founded in Cape Town, South Africa, Stitch is a Fintech that is building critical infrastructure for enabling faster, more secure payments throughout Africa. As the market cap for African financial services continues to grow, the role of developers is becoming more important. With a strong focus on the growth of mobile payments and a growing user base, Stitch is on the rise.
Plaid for Africa is a stitch
Stitch Interactive is one of the better funded fintech startups in Africa, and as a result they have an impressive track record. The company has already raised $21 million in Series A funding. In a recent round, Stitch managed to raise the bar for Series A funding, which is a feat in itself. They are headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria, and have operations in Kenya, South Africa, and India. And while they may be small potatoes compared to their international peers, they are big players in their respective markets. With the Stitch mobile wallet, they have a competitive edge over other payment solution providers and the best customer service in the business.
Stitch claims to be able to make the world’s largest payments utilizing their mobile wallet, and boasts some impressive growth metrics in the last 12 months. As of January 2019, they have a burgeoning user base of 200,000, and are on track to process more than 10 million payments by the end of the year. Their payment solution is a good fit for financial services providers looking to lower costs, and deliver a world class mobile payments experience to their customers.
Stitch is building critical infrastructure to enable faster, easier, and more secure payments across Africa
Stitch is a financial technology startup that is building critical infrastructure to enable faster, easier, and more secure payments across Africa. In April, the company launched a payment product in South Africa, expanding its operations to Nigeria in October.
The startup offers APIs that enable businesses to link users’ accounts and create applications on top of its infrastructure. Its tooling also allows fintechs to work with traditional financial institutions factnewsph.
Stitch’s data infrastructure is designed to reduce the time and effort required to connect to customers’ financial accounts. With the help of its API, companies can build applications on top of the platform, facilitating faster digital onboarding, income estimation assessments, and fraud checks.
Stitch’s payment product allows users to make bank-to-bank transfers. Moreover, it links wallet top-ups, refunds, and withdrawals to verified accounts. As a result, users can complete transactions without logging into the app or leaving the interface.
To ensure smooth payments in Africa, PAPSS is a cross-border financial market infrastructure that simplifies making payments between countries. The system is compliant to global regulatory standards, which improves operational efficiency and customer experiences.
Fintechs can’t discount the role of developers
Fintech refers to financial technology, which includes hardware, software, and data. It can be used for a variety of services, including retail banking, investments management, fundraising, and government assistance. Some examples of fintech include peer-to-peer payments, automated portfolio managers, and mobile banking apps.
The fintech industry is still in its infancy. Some companies have been able to offer a few products at a fraction of the cost of their traditional counterparts. These include robo-advisors, which can provide valuable insights on the consumer’s preferences and corresponding financial plans, and mobile banking apps that let customers deposit checks and transfer funds.
However, banks are still working through legacy systems that make it difficult to leverage new technologies. As a result, they’re launching initiatives of their own. Having an established network and business size gives them an edge over fintech startups, which typically require smaller teams and less investment in infrastructure.
Aside from a better user experience, leveraging fintech to enhance traditional financial services can help streamline a bank’s processes, speed up transactions and decrease mistakes. By integrating the latest technological innovations, they can deliver new products and services at a faster rate.
African financial services market cap will grow by multiples over the coming decade
Fintechs are transforming the traditional financial services industry in Africa. By offering a wide range of products, including savings accounts, transactional solutions, and remittances, they are providing customers with significant value. And they’re doing so at a price that is far cheaper than traditional players. But the African fintech space is still in its infancy, and many challenges remain before it can truly take off. To survive, these new players must build a robust corporate governance foundation and navigate a complex and uncertain regulatory landscape.
The growth opportunity in the African fintech market is expected to be concentrated in 11 key markets. These markets together account for over 70 percent of the continent’s GDP. They include Ghana, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda. As they improve their financial infrastructure, the opportunity to offer advanced financial services is expected to expand, with claims, underwriting, and banking-as-a-service likely to emerge in the future.