A South African fintech start-up that promotes responsible credit card use while helping retailers grow their businesses has scored a significant financial boost.

Standard Bank has extended a ZAR200 million loan facility to Johannesburg-based Float Technologies, which bills itself as Africa’s first instalments-as-a-service provider and was launched in 2021.

Africa Business Communities reports that the start-up’s technology allows Visa or Mastercard credit card holders to split their payments into interest-free, fee-free instalments over 24 months, using existing credit limits.

The company says it hopes to use the new loan facility to expand its database of participating merchants, while Standard Bank reports that it is the first time it has approved such a facility for a buy-now-pay-later platform.

According to Float CEO Alex Forsyth Thompson, ‘partnering with Standard Bank is a major milestone for our business and a huge vote of confidence in the uniqueness of our model, its value to the payments ecosystem, and the future prospects of our team and business’.

26 March 2024
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