Payments startup i-Pay gets expansion support from PayU [updated]

South African online payments company i-Pay signed a deal with the Naspers-owned payments company, PayU, which aims to expand the startup’s services across the continent.

Launched in November 2014, i-Pay came on to South Africa’s online payments scene with a mission to take on existing players like PayFast and PayGate. Though the company’s appetite stems much further than ecommerce solutions.

“PayU is excited to work with i-Pay in deploying this next-gen EFT solution, as it not only leads the industry in the right direction but it perfectly complements the existing 30 plus products suite PayU currently offers South African merchants,” said PayU’s head of merchant processing, Johan Dekker.

Read more: Can i-Pay boost SA’s ecommerce by making EFTs cool?

Founder of i-Pay Thomas Pays told iOL that the deal will enable i-Pay to expand to Kenya and Nigeria within the next year. The founder also hopes to have a global product within the coming years.

Pays told Ventuerburn last year that it will develop a mobile-focused solution, competing with the likes of SnapScan, Flickpay, Zapper and more.

Pays added: “i-Pay is honoured to be recognised as an innovative technological solution to fit in with PayU’s offering through EFT Pro. We look forward to a relationship whereby we will be providing a consistent leading user-friendly payment solution.”

As well as the upcoming launch of an e-wallet, i-Pay also sees a gap with other payment alternatives such as SMS, or directly through an emailed invoice, or via a Point of Sale device.

Update: This article has been updated to include the mention of PayU as well as quotes from Johan Dekker and Thomas Pays.