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Former Springbok Bryan Habana’s Paymenow nets R4m seed funding round
Stellenbosch based fintech startup Paymenow today announced that it had landed a R4-million investment from ViaMedia, which is part of the Digital Ecosystems Group (formerly Blue Label Mobile).
The startup, which was founded last year by former Springbok rugby player Bryan Habana and Deon Nobrega (pictured above, left to right), offers a financial wellness and inclusion platform that allows employees early access to already earned wages.
The app uses gamification to drive financial education and inclusion amongst its users, and is working with employers to help move South Africans out of a vicious debt cycle and into a savings mindset.
Nobrega said in a statement today that the investment will help provide the business with cash flow, while it aims to reach operational break-even by the end of the current fiscal year.
Habana’s Paymenow uses gamification to drive financial education and inclusion
Habana said in the same statement that the Digital Ecosystems Group brings a strategic partnership from a business enablement perspective as well as access to funding and working capital.
“ViaMedia and the Digital Ecosystems Group will enable us to draw down on a wealth of product and operational expertise as well as access to a funding book that will allow our business model to scale locally as well as to the rest of Africa and Latin America,” said Habana.
Habana, who is also a co-founder in digital agency Retroviral, told Ventureburn in a call on Friday (19 June) that Nobrega had recently visited the UK to speak to investors there about funding. It’s not clear whether this is for a future funding round or was for the current seed round.
He added that Paymenow had seen “incredible” traction over the last three months.
Joint Digital Ecosystems (DigiCo) and ViaMedia CEO, Garth Mackintosh said in the statement that PayMeNow further enables and accelerates DigiCo’s mobile financial services strategy.
Featured image (left to right): Bryan Habana and Deon Nobrega (Supplied)
