Fintech startup i-Pay secures R10m investment from Kalon Venture Partners

Johannesburg-based fintech startup i-Pay has secured a R10-million investment from venture capital (VC) firm and registered 12J VC fund Kalon Venture Partners.

i-Pay’s electronic fund transfer (EFT) processing system automates EFT transactions and allows users to make instant, secure payments.

Kalon Venture Partners CEO Clive Butkow said the deal was closed on Monday (13 November).

“We are confident that it is 10 times better than anything on the market,” Butkow told Ventureburn in a phone call. He said the firm’s investment into the fintech startup had been influenced by “the incredible strong team” around i-Pay as well as the startup’s growth over the past two years.

i-Pay co-founder Thomas Pays claims the startup has about 1.5-million users in South Africa alone

Thomas Pays (pictured, right), iPay CEO and co-founder, told Ventureburn that the startup was launched in 2014 after he and two other founders, Mitchan Adams and Lyle Eckstein, identified a need for an efficient and secure online payment system in the local market.

Pays did not disclose how much equity i-Pay had given up in exchange for the R10-million investment, instead he said Kalon had assumed a “minority stake” in the startup.

Pays said the investment will be used to assist the business to expand into other markets. The startup currently operates in Nigeria and South Africa. Pays claims that in South Africa alone, i-Pay has in excess of 1.5-million users and supports six merchant banks.

“We have been generating great returns and want to further position ourselves in the local market and across Africa,” he said.

Pays said his startup’s platform is secure, as the it uses the security infrastructure provided by those banks it works with.

Featured image (left to right): i-Pay founders Mitchan Adams, Lyle Eckstein and Thomas Pays (Supplied)