One of Africa’s fastest growing fintech startups, Chipper Cash has gone live in South Africa with the offer of its free app in the country. Chipper Cash which facilitates free peer-to-peer (P2P) money transfers and instant cross-border payments in Africa, will now offer domestic P2P money transfers in South Africa.
This will enable South Africans to enjoy free unlimited instant domestic money transfers, invest in cryptocurrencies, and buy and send airtime and data to anyone.
The fintech startup which was founded in 2018 by Ham Serunjogi (CEO) and Maijid Moujaled (President) and headquartered in San Francisco, USA has been experiencing rapid user adoption in many countries as it quickly opened offices in Nigeria, Kenya, United Kingdom, and South Africa.
According to a statement from the company, the Chipper Cash app was created to make money transfers easy and efficient for Africans at scale, to increase access to financial services for the underbanked, and digitising daily payments to ease the reliance on cash.
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Users can instantly purchase airtime and data from leading South African network providers to send to friends and family. In addition, Chipper Cash allows people to buy, sell and transfer Bitcoin, Ethereum, and USD Coin all in one app.
Having raised $100 million in a Series C funding round in June 2021, and with over 4 million users globally, up to 80,000 transactions processed per day, Chipper Cash has experienced exponential growth since its first launch.
The South African launch brings its African network to a total of seven African countries, which include Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Nigeria.
“Domestic remittances are a lifeline for many families in South Africa. Over R157-billion moves between provinces every year, with people sending money to their families and friends. This is not only the result of the 7.7-million people who moved to other provinces for work, but it is the overall 24-million South Africans who send money to each other daily,” said Pardon Mujakachi, Vice President: Strategy & Partnerships, Africa.
“Chipper Cash’s free, fast and easy domestic P2P service is now available to them all. We believe it gives South Africans the freedom to instantly send money anywhere in the country from their mobile phones.”
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Upon downloading the app, new users will register a profile to get into the Chipper Cash ecosystem. The app’s services, however, are not accessible unless users are verified. This verification process is done through a simple and easy-to-follow compliance process commonly referred to as the know-you-customer process, where users submit an identity document, such as an ID or a valid passport.
After verification is complete, users can then connect their existing online bank account to their Chipper Cash profile and start transacting. All personal information and transaction data are stored under secure encryption to protect against any unauthorised access.
“We are very excited for South Africa to experience Chipper Cash and take advantage of the app’s features such as fast and safe P2P money transfers, buying discounted airtime and data, and investing in selected cryptocurrencies,” adds Mujakachi, who also says the app is looking to introduce a host of new features such as cross-border transfers across countries within its network.
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“We believe that Chipper Cash will help formalise local and regional remittances that tend to be sent through informal channels, which can be expensive, unsafe, and unreliable. Such a meaningful difference is true to the goals and vision of Chipper Cash’s founders,” he concludes. Chipper Cash is available for download, for free, on iOS and Android.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry