Stitch, a South African API fintech startup, has raised a $21 million Series A funding round led by The Spruce House Partnership.
The round was joined by PayPal Ventures, TrueLayer, Firstminute Capital, The Raba Partnership, CRE Venture Capital, Village Global, Zinal Growth and others, including founders of Chipper Cash, Quovo, and Unit.
The total funding raised by Stitch currently stands at $27 million. It scored $4 million seed in February 2021 and $2 million extensions round in October.
Founded in 2019 by Kiaan Pillay, Natalie Cuthbert, and Priyen Pillay, Stitch provides full API access to financial accounts. Stitch Money allows users to share their transaction history and balances, confirm their identities, and initiate payments. The startup is present in South Africa, Nigeria, and it’s set to launch in Kenya, Ghana and Egypt as per information on its website.
Per numbers, the startup claims that in the last quarter it saw 44% month-on-month (MoM) customer growth and a 72% MoM increase in linked financial accounts on the platform. It’s had 104% MoM growth in payments value since launch.
In reaching the earlier mentioned milestone, Stitch has partnered with Chipper Cash, Luno, Zapper, ImaliPay, FlexClub, Peach and Yoco.
“We are incredibly fortunate to be supported by some of the best investors, founders, and builders in the fintech space globally,” said Stitch co-founder and CEO Kiaan Pillay.
“They are working closely with us to enable the boom we’re seeing in financial technology on the continent. Across the hundreds of customers we work with, big and small, we’re witnessing a record pace of development of new financial products.”
“We have been following startups in Africa for many years. Our diligence was very clear that this is one of the most talented teams on the continent, and we are excited to be a part of what they are building at Stitch,” said Ben Stein, co-founder of The Spruce House Partnership.
“Stitch is building critical infrastructure to enable faster, easier, and more secure payments across Africa,” said Ashish Aggarwal, Director at PayPal Ventures.
“We believe they will play a significant role in contributing to the overall growth of the fintech space in Africa, and we are excited to be investing at this important moment in their journey.”
