Stitch unveils WigWag: No-code payments for SMEs

Payments infrastructure company Stitch this morning announced the launch of WigWag, a new brand designed to serve SMEs and individual business owners with easy, no-code payment solutions, powered by the Stitch API.

With WigWag, small and growing businesses can begin accepting local and international card payments in minutes, without the need for a website or developer resources. They simply need to send a unique payment link to customers in any chat or email.

Virtually any individual or business that would like to accept digital payments can use WgWag. Here’s how:

• Register and verify your business in minutes via the WigWag website.
• Generate a link for your customer with the amount and when you want it to expire.
• Send the link to the customer via any social media chat, WhatsApp, SMS or email
• That’s it! The customer can make a fast, easy card payment just by clicking the link.
• You can see which payments are still pending and reconcile all transactions through the same dashboard.

“At Stitch, we realise payments aren’t one-size-fits-all. Small businesses require access to simple, out-of-the-box tools that can make it easier and faster to collect payments,” said Danielle Laity, WigWag product manager at Stitch.

“We created WigWag specifically with these small business clients in mind. Now anyone can have access to reliable payments, powered by the Stitch API, and offer their customers a truly seamless experience.”

The social commerce industry presents a strong opportunity in South Africa.

The sector is expected to grow by 63.7% on an annual basis to $1363.9 million in 2023 – and is further expected to record a CAGR of 38.4% during 2022-2028.

Today, informal enterprises constitute 28.8% of South African businesses. In 2019, over 51% of those informal enterprises indicated they had encountered strong interest from customers in making payments with card, and this has continued to grow.

“I’m loving [WigWag]! It’s so easy to check my Instagram sales in one place. When I do a drop and create links, there’s my whole postal list right there. No admin,” said Tamsyn Postma, owner of Dear Prudence Vintage.

To sign up for WigWag, interested businesses can create an account via the website. As part of launch promotions, the first 300 businesses that sign up for WigWag can send a payment link to the team and will receive R100.

Stitch announced the launch of card payments as it expanded into an end-to-end payments service provider in March this year. As the core Stitch API is designed to serve enterprise businesses with complex payments needs, WigWag was designed specifically to enable easy payments for SMEs while leveraging the Stitch card rails.

Stitch emerged from stealth in February 2021 and expanded into Nigeria in October 2021. The firm raised $21 million in Series A funding in February 2022. Backers include PayPal Ventures, TrueLayer, firstminute capital, The Raba Partnership, CRE Venture Capital, Village Global, Zinal Growth (the investment vehicle of Checkout.com founder Guillaume Pousaz) and angels including founders and early builders from Chipper Cash, Monzo, Venmo, GoCardless, Plaid, Unit and more.

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