Stitch - Afrikan Heroes

South African API Startup, Stitch, Expands To Nigeria, Raises New $2 million

October 29, 2021

Stitch, a South African fintech API startup, has announced a $2 million extension of its initial fundraising round, in addition to the $4 million announced in February this year. The fintech now has $6 million in venture funding and has confirmed its expansion into Nigeria, where its founders anticipate limitless prospects due to the market’s dynamism.

“Our ambition is to become the preferred partner of all African financial product firms. Access to the infrastructure that Stitch creates can help these businesses develop even more inventive solutions,’’ Kiaan Pillay, Stitch’s co-founder and CEO, said.

The Stitch API enables developers to quickly link apps to financial accounts, allowing users to share transaction histories and balances, validate their identity, and make payments. The finTech also enables firms to innovate by providing personal finance, loans, insurance, payments, and wealth management services.

API Stitch Nigeria — *The Stitch team.* ***Image Credits:*** *Pang Isaac*

In order to expand in Nigeria, Stitch chose to hand over the keys to the truck to Benjamin Dada, a financial technology expert who formerly worked with Nigerian neobank FairMoney. Dada has a blogging platform specialized on African tech startups, having studied information technology, management, and leadership at Lancaster University Management School and Harvard Business School Online, respectively.

Note that the South African fintech has opted to provide free access to its products to Nigerian companies who want to engage with it till the end of 2021. Stitch Payments, its online payment solution for fintechs and other digital companies, was introduced earlier this week. Stitch claims that they can now provide seamless one-click payments.

API Stitch Nigeria API Stitch Nigeria

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Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning write

South Africa’s Fintech API Startup Stitch Plans African Expansion

February 28, 2021

Stitch, the South African-based fintech API startup has said that it successfully raised a $4 million seed round with an impressive global investor line-up as it plans expansion into other regions of the continent. Stitch API which allows developers to connect apps to financial accounts within minutes, allowing their users to share their transaction histories and balances, confirm their identities, and initiate payments has made inroads in South Africa and presently nurse plans for continental expansion.

Kiaan Pillay, Stitch co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO). — Kiaan Pillay, Stitch co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO)

Stitch says its tool gives organizations the edge to innovate with new and improved services including personal finance, lending, insurance, payments and wealth management. Stitch also enables fintechs to work with traditional financial institutions in a safer and more compliant way. The startup has now raised a US$4 million seed round, which it claims is the largest investment to date in a pure-play African fintech infrastructure company, and one of the largest seed-stage fintech payments raises the continent has seen.

The startup attracted a stellar group of investors to its seed round, which was co-led by firstminute capital and The Raba Partnership, and also includes CRE, Village Global, Klarna founder Niklas Adalberth through his fund Norrsken, Venmo founder Iqram Magdon Ismail, founding team members at Plaid, and executives at Coinbase, Revolut and Fast. The investor cohort also includes African fintech leaders from Flutterwave – founder Iyinoluwa Aboyeji through his fund Future Africa – and Paystack. Village Global brings backing from LPs such as Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Eric Schmidt and Jeff Bezos.

Stitch will use the funding to build the team, consolidate growth in South Africa, and launch operations in West and East Africa, equipping Africa’s rising fintech community with the tools to build better products faster.

“It makes no sense that we’re still building financial services the same way we did 15 years ago,” said Kiaan Pillay, Stitch co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO).

“There’s an incredible opportunity to provide a new generation of financial services in South Africa and across other African markets. At Stitch, we enable smart people in the ecosystem to unlock this potential and build amazing products and services, powered by our infrastructure.”

Venmo founder and Stitch shareholder Iqram Magdon Ismail said companies that drastically advance the infrastructure of basic needs are very important.

“Stitch is building the solution that will unlock value for all banks and financial institutions in Africa,” he said.

Brent Hoberman, co-founder and general partner of firstminute capital, said Africa has the fastest growing developer community globally.

“Stitch has the opportunity to become the core infrastructure enabling digitisation in the financial services industry across the continent. Every online business in Africa can now easily embed fintech capabilities in their applications – facilitating online payments, increasing lending capacity and streamlining KYC and identity checks – through the Stitch API,” he said.

“As a fellow South African, I’m excited to be partnering with a team of exceptionally talented local engineers with pan-African ambitions.”

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

South Africa’s Stitch Raises $4m, Africa’s Highest API Fintech Funding So Far

February 26, 2021

Stitch is a South African startup specializing in financial infrastructure technologies. It was founded by Kiaan Pillay, Natalie Cuthbert, and Priyen Pillay. Its goal is to provide full API access to financial accounts across Africa from its primary market, South Africa. Thanks to the $4 million it recently raised, the young company will be able to accelerate its efforts to get there.

*The Stitch team.* ***Image Credits:*** *Pang Isaac*

This fundraising also makes it the fintech API that has raised the most funds in Africa so far, after Okra, Mono, OnePipe and Pngme. Stitch will be able to better help developers connect their applications to financial accounts. A process that allows users to share their transaction history and balances, confirm their identity and initiate payments.

Investors in this seed round led by London-based VC firm, firstminute Capital and U.S.-based investment firm, The Raba Partnership, include CRE and Village Global, Norrsken (a fund by Klarna co-founder Niklas Adalberth), Future Africa (a fund by Flutterwave co-founder Iyinoluwa Aboyeji) and 500 Fintech. Other angel investors, such as Venmo co-founder Iqram Magdon-Ismail, some founding members at Plaid and executives at Coinbase, Revolut, Fast and Paystack also joined.

Like Plaid in the United States, Tink in Europe and Belvo in Latin America, Stitch wants to establish its dominance throughout the African continent. the startup will achieve this by enabling businesses and developers to innovate around other services such as personal finance, loans, insurance, payments and wealth management.

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer

Stitch South African startup