Johannesburg & Amsterdam-based Talk360, the leading calling app for Africans abroad, announced the spin-off of its payment platform into a separate entity named “NjiaPay”, which will be led by a seasoned team of fintech executives.
In 2022, Talk360 successfully raised $7 million, attracting investments from African venture capitalists and fintech angels across Europe and South Africa, including executives from Adyen and Mollie and founders of Tyme Bank. After the funding, Talk360 sought to not only expand its user base among the African diaspora in the UK, US, and South Africa, but deriving from their own experiences, they started to explore the potential of establishing a modern payment aggregator designed to streamline and optimize the payment experience across the fragmented African market.
“To continue Talk360’s mission of connecting migrant communities globally, it is vital to capitalize on our strengths. By carving out our payment ambitions into NjiaPay, we’ve sharpened our focus on what we do best—connecting people through our calling app—while paving the way for a new opportunity to improve payments in Africa,” says Hans Osnabrugge, co-founder and CEO of Talk360. “Over the past two years, we’ve grown from connecting 2.3 million consumers to 4 million last year, fulfilling our promise to bridge migrant communities with their families back home.”
Dean Hiine, co-founder and MD for Africa at Talk360, adds, “The need for a unified payment solution in Africa is as critical today as it was two years ago. Unlike regions with unified payment systems, Africa’s 54 countries each have their own currencies, local payment methods, and distinct banking systems, creating a fragmented landscape with no single checkout solution or PSP for the continent. For Talk360, as well as other companies, addressing this immense challenge is paramount to offering users their preferred payment methods, especially in key markets like South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria.”
Marika Beindorff, COO at Talk360, highlights the transformative impact of having a dedicated and knowledgeable team at NjiaPay handle their payments: “Having a single payment partner, and experts with decades of experience, has been a game-changer for us. In our pilot phase, we integrated multiple payment service providers (PSPs) into a single, unified checkout experience with optimized routing based on users’ characteristics. This unique approach led to a remarkable 25% increase in conversion rates, significant operational efficiencies and cost savings.”
Osnabrugge concludes, “We are thrilled that Jonatan Allback and Roderick Simons have decided to embark on this journey and lead NjiaPay as a separate company. Their expertise has led to the creation of a new superior platform and strategy, beyond anything we could have built ourselves.”
NjiaPay is set to launch its services to external customers in Q1 2025, with a unique and dedicated focus on African payments—a landscape known for its complexity and fragmentation. NjiaPay is transforming payments in Africa by introducing a single, streamlined checkout process tailored to the continent’s diverse needs. Leveraging machine learning and AI, it intelligently navigates the best-performing PSPs and payment methods, ensuring seamless transitions to alternate options and optimizing transaction success rates. No other solution offers the same level of expertise and commitment to addressing the challenges of accepting online payments that small and midsize merchants are facing across the African continent.
