Kenyan-based fintech startup, Kyanda, a money transfer app helping users make all sorts of transactions at low cost, has launched operations in South Africa.
Founded by Collins Kathuli in 2020, Kyanda allows users to make cheap and fast money transfers, purchase airtime, and pay bills, among other things.
Since its founding, the startup has processed over three million transactions, and Kathuli revealed that they strive to build a payment ecosystem that serves both Kenya and all of Africa. Over 24 million South Africans send money to each other daily, and over US$10 billion is moved within the country annually, making it the starting point of a global expansion.
“We have other markets in our pipeline. This would be achieved best once we establish the market fit for our products, and of course, after we’ve built firm roots in the current locations we’re present,” said Kathuli.
Kenya and SA fintech innovation stimulated by mobile money
In Kenya, fintech development has been propelled by the mobile money revolution triggered by M-Pesa, the SIM-based mobile banking service before the rise of new players in the industry like Kyanda. The rise of mobile money in the region has been credited for helping economic development, and contributing to the improvement of financial inclusion, which jumped from just 26% in 2006 to now 82.9% – the highest rate in sub-Saharan Africa.
The mobile money revolution was also the spark that ignited Kenya’s fintech fire with startups like Kopo Kopo emerging in the past years to provide solutions that run on top of popular mobile money platforms.
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Meanwhile, South Africa on the other hand was an early mover in fintech regulation and development, welcoming digital innovation and supporting mobile money solutions as early as 2009, says the Africa Fintech State of the Industry 2020 report.
Payment and remittances are currently the fastest growing sector in the region, mainly due to the growth of e-commerce and the rapid expansion of the Internet, according to a recent research paper by the Flanders Investment and Trade.
Third-party payment products and payment services providers (PSPs) make up for most of the segment, with players such as Yoco, which provides a card reader and app that allows users to turn smartphones into payment terminals, and Zoona, a mobile technology company specializing in money transfers, electronic voucher payments and agent payments.
The fast-maturing industry has also seen signs of consolidation with for example banking-as-a-service provider Ukheshe acquiring Oltio from Mastercard last year. Oltio developed the digital payments platform for Masterpass, Mastercard’s QR code payments service.
We wait to see how Kyanda plans to capture the market in the industry full of titans.
About Kyanda
Kyanda is a Kenyan Fintech startup that offers Digital financial services to both Businesses; SMEs and common Mwananchi (citizen). Through commission-based, payment aggregation partnerships with banks, telco’s, utility, and financial institutions, Kyanda offers utility payment, airtime services, bill payment, and money transfer services locally and internationally. The same is offered to businesses through powerful APIs.