Talk360 spins out NjiaPay to facilitate e-commerce payments

International calling app Talk360 has announced it is spinning out its payment platform into a separate entity named NjiaPay.

In 2022, Johannesburg and Amsterdam-based 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 the founders of TymeBank.

After the funding, Talk360 sought to not only expand its user base among the African diaspora in the UK, US and South Africa, but also 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," said 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," Osnabrugge added.

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Marika Beindorff, COO at Talk360, said that in the pilot phase, the company integrated multiple payment service providers (PSPs) into a single, unified checkout experience with optimized routing based on users' characteristics.

She claimed this approach led to a 25% increase in conversion rates, significant operational efficiencies and cost savings.

NjiaPay to launch services in Q1 2025

The Payments-as-a-Service platform is set to launch its services to external customers in the first quarter of 2025, with a dedicated focus on African payments.

NjiaPay will be led by former Adyen and Skipify executive Jonatan Allback as CEO and Roderick Simons in the role of chief product technology officer (CPTO).

NjiaPay will launch its services to external customers in the first quarter of 2025. (Source: prostooleh on Freepik)

Dean Hiine, co-founder and MD for Africa at Talk360, said the need for a unified payment solution in Africa is critical.

"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," Hiine added.

NjiaPay aims to introduce a single, streamlined checkout process to help address the challenges that small and midsize merchants across the continent are facing when it comes to accepting online payments.

The company said it is leveraging machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) to intelligently navigate the best-performing PSPs and payment methods, ensuring seamless transitions to alternate options and optimizing transaction success rates.