African fintech start-up Stitch lands $21m Series A round

South African API fintech firm Stitch has raised $21 million in a Series A round led by The Spruce House Partnership.

Stitch CEO Kiaan Pillay

The round saw participation from PayPal Ventures, TrueLayer, firstminute capital, The Raba Partnership, CRE Venture Capital, Village Global and Checkout.com founder Guillaume Pousaz’s Zinal Growth. The founders of Chipper Cash, Quovo and Unit also contributed.

Stitch says its investors are “working closely with us to enable the boom we’re seeing in financial technology on the continent”.

The fintech plans to use the cash to build the “future of money movement”. The company says its payments and data infrastructure links bank accounts, wallets and other stores of value to allow businesses across the fintech ecosystem — traditionally fragmented by technical, commercial and political barriers — to transact easier, grow faster and significantly reduce conversion time and cost.

Stitch is looking to significantly expand its team, launch new products and enter new markets across the continent.

Stitch co-founder and CEO Kiaan Pillay says: “Across the hundreds of customers we work with, big and small, we’re witnessing a record pace of development of new financial products.

“Our goal is to help fast-growing fintech and embedded finance companies more easily launch increasingly innovative and tailored products, expand into new markets and optimise their solutions.”