Digital payments have been growing significantly in Africa in recent years, but the segment remains fragmented and faces numerous challenges. Revio, a fintech that makes digital payments simpler and cheaper on the continent, just closed its second round of financing, after the first one in June 2022.

Revio, an Africa-focused payment orchestration platform, recently raised $5.2 million in seed funding. The fintech announced the news on September 26 and said it would use the money to expand across Africa, recruit on the continent, and in international markets to support its growth.

According to Ruaan Botha, Managing Director of Revio, Africa’s digital payments ecosystem is fragmented, with over 280 licensed payment service providers, and 42 currencies. Yet the sector is growing rapidly, and "is expected to reach $146 billion by 2023," said Botha who co-founded the firm with Nicole Dunn. 

U.S.-based venture capital firm QED Investors and investment firm Partech led the recent round, in which three existing Revio investors participated. Since its first $1.1 million round, led by Speedinvest, in June 2022, Revio unveiled its ambition to grow in Africa, integrating over 25 African markets and 70 payment methods.

Revio, concretely, helps companies recover lost transactions and streamline their end-to-end payment processes. The fintech estimates that 2 to 3 out of every 10 payments fail in Africa, compared with a global average of 0.7. The company attributes the bigger rate of failure to a fragmented payment landscape, invalid or expired card details, fraudulent checks, multiple or dormant accounts, and insufficient funds.

According to Revio, Africa’s payment failure rate results in billions of dollars in lost revenue. The fintech estimates that, on the continent alone, $14 billion in recurring revenue is not collected each year. With digital payments growing at over 20% a year, the situation should worsen, despite the arrival of new gateways and aggregators to facilitate multiple payment methods in Africa.

Chamberline Moko