A startup based in South Africa that offers card issuing orchestration solutions to fintech companies has secured $700,000 in pre-seed funding. The platform provided by the startup connects fintechs with banks, issuer processors, KYC, and payment networks, facilitating faster card launches.
The pre-seed round was led by 54 Collective, a venture capital firm, and First Circle Capital, a fintech-focused firm. Sunny Side Venture Partners and several angel investors also took part in the funding.
Founded by Barbara Woollams and Miranda Perumal, both with experience in the financial sector, the one-year-old startup plans to utilize the funding to expand its API product to regions like Kenya, Zambia, and Cote d’Ivoire.
As African fintechs face challenges with the costs associated with card services due to multiple partnerships, Scale aims to reduce these costs with its platform, addressing prevailing card-issuing models.
Expanding into Cote d’Ivoire is strategic for Scale, as the country leads card issuance in West Africa, with Ivorian banks issuing approximately 2.4 million cards to customers in 2022.
CEO Perumal expressed confidence in the startup’s ability to engage with the ecosystem, build trust with African businesses, and focus on solving challenges in card rail services.
Despite the dominance of cash payments in certain African markets, Scale is optimistic about the continent’s growing fintech sector, which is projected to reach $230 billion by 2025. By 2029, card issuance platforms are expected to issue around 35% of all cards used in payments.
Scale will face competition from B2B card issuers like Onafriq in the market.
Hetal Patel, the chief investment officer at 54 Collective, commended the Scale team’s expertise and proactive approach, looking forward to the startup becoming a crucial enabler for fintech companies.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to clarify that Scale specializes in “card issuing” to expedite product launches and does not offer “card customizing” as previously mentioned. Scale also does not provide brand and project management services as a standalone offering.
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