Baobab Payments GmbH, trading under Peach Payments, has secured €29M / US$30M worth of funding in a funding round that was officially announced in April. The round was mainly spearheaded by Apis Partners LLP, a UK-based asset manager that manages Apis Growth Fund II, a private equity fund.
Peach
Payments is an enterprise-grade digital payment service provider that enables
online payments in Africa for businesses of all sizes. In April 2023, Apis
Partners announced the Fund’s intention to invest in Peach Payments as part of
a funding round consisting of a mix of primary and secondary investments.
Says Rahul Jain, CEO and
co-founder of Peach Payments, “This
funding has been raised to accelerate growth and will be used to build out new
products and expand into new countries in Africa. We also intend to double down
on the markets in which we already have a presence – South Africa, Kenya,
Mauritius – to grow market share, expand our headcount and launch new
products. All these actions have the core focus of serving our merchants and
helping them to scale their businesses.”
Businesses that use Peach Payments in
one country don’t need to find a new payment partner when they expand to a new
African country – they can just grow into the new geography, Jain explains. The
payment platform hopes to expand this functionality across the continent’s 54
countries, some with as many as 12 payment methods, including credit cards,
debit cards, instant EFTs, multiple buy-now-pay-later options and electronic
vouchers.
“For businesses targeting consumers across Africa, this
fragmentation in payment methods and stores of value makes it incredibly
complicated to accept payments in their digital channel," Jain explains. “Peach Payments already abstracts that
complexity for merchants in the countries where we are operational. We want to
expand this to more African countries, and are evaluating a number at this
time.”
Udayan Goyal, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Apis Partners, expressed enthusiasm in utilizing Apis' resources, including capital, expertise, and global network, to assist in investing in Peach Payments' infrastructure, products, and personnel. This will strengthen the company's recent accomplishments and aid in its future growth.
Consumers
will benefit, Jain says, by having an easy online payment experience with
enterprise-grade security and access to cross-border payments. This will allow
them to buy goods and services internationally while using local payment
methods. For merchants, the expansion of the payment platform will bring
additional opportunities to expand their businesses internationally.
“The
Apis team brings an incredible wealth of experience in fintech across the globe
and we look forward to exploring exponential opportunities together with them.
Their ability to listen and advise on strategic moves is a valuable asset for
any startup along its journey. We specifically wanted a shareholder that was
not a helicopter investor but would be actively involved in helping us grow the
business,” Jain says
of the value-add Apis Partners brings to the deal.
As an
ESGI-native investor, Apis Partners’ sector expertise will help Peach Payments
to maximise financial inclusion by enabling more merchants to participate and
grow in today’s increasingly digital global economy.
“We continue to see significant opportunities in African
payments as strong secular trends that are not related to annual business
cycles – such as the conversion from cash to digital and in-store to online
payments – persist across key markets. We have been impressed by the vision and
execution Peach Payments’ management team has brought to bear to capitalise on
these trends. We look forward to working with Peach Payments to expand its
reach into new markets with innovative merchant solutions,” says Matteo Stefanel, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Apis Partners.