1K Africa announces investment in leading payments business

1K Africa positions Pay@ for international expansion enabling more customers to make account payments through multiple payment networks.

Stellenbosch and Cape Town, South Africa and Denver, Colorado​ ​(March 5, 2019) ​– 1K Africa, a private family capital fund backed exclusively by industry-leading families from around the globe, today announced its investment in Pay At Holdings Proprietary Limited (“​Pay@​”), a leading payments aggregator based in Stellenbosch, South Africa. The investment marks 1K Africa’s first investment in the digital payments sector in Africa – one of the fastest growing industries on the continent.

Pay@ offers a convenient transaction channel bridging the gap between sophisticated financial services organizations and a population that is still largely unbanked or partially banked. Pay@ aggregates payment transactions at retailers and other payment networks (such as banks’ electronic channels, mobile payment apps, wallets and informal vendors) thereby enabling access to the latest technology in digital and mobile payments. By providing an extensive payments platform to a multitude of billers, Pay@ enables customers to make account payments at major retailers in cash, debit and credit cards, via mobile phones, QR-codes, web payments and electronic funds transfers. Completely interoperable, the Pay@ platform permits virtually any payment method and tender type to be integrated and leverages its accurate real-time validation processes, reduced reconciliation errors and track record of superior service.  

Pay@ platform permits virtually any payment method and tender type to be integrated and leverages its accurate real-time validation processes, reduced reconciliation errors and track record of superior service.

Pay@ is a well-respected player in the South African payments industry and is currently expanding its footprint into the rest of Africa, with a vision to further expand to global markets where its service finds suitable traction.

“Pay@’s strong management team has honed its industry-leading business model and technology over more than 12 years by leveraging the compelling macro-economic trends in Africa’s digital payments industry,” said Hendrik Jordaan, President and CEO of One Thousand Africa. “We are honored to invest in a company that could help bring economic freedom to millions of unbanked individuals in Africa.”

This transaction represents 1K Africa’s fifth platform investment on the African continent, adding to its existing portfolio companies, Redsun Dried Fruit & Nuts®, a raisin processor located on the banks of the Orange River in the Kalahari Desert, Beefmaster®, a branded beef producer and exporter, SanLei®, a specialist aquaculture business headquartered in the Kingdom of Lesotho and Higher Education Partners South Africa, an integrated provider of online program management services to leading tertiary educational institutions in South Africa. In addition, 1K Africa portfolio companies have also concluded multiple add-on investments including in TRUE Jerky, a San Francisco-based healthy snack foods company and RTE Snacks, a producer of healthy, ready-to-eat trail mix products.

About Pay@

Pay@ is a leading payments aggregator that provides an extensive payments platform. Pay@ uses both traditional (cash, cards and bank transfers) and non-traditional (QR codes and mobile phones) payment tenders, and is convenient and easy to use.

With Pay@, customers can pay their accounts at major retailers and other Pay@ payment networks. The platform is integrated into over 7800 stores and 140 000 traders in South Africa, and its presence is growing in the rest of Africa. Transactions are processed in real time, making it highly accurate, and it can handle large volumes of transactions twenty-four hours a day.

For more information, please visit ​www.payat.co.za

About 1K Africa^®

1K Africa is a private capital fund designed to enhance the best of what private equity investment has to offer. For more information, please visit www.1kafrica.net.