Scale secures $700,000 to simplify card issuing and payments in Africa
Scale, an issuer orchestration platform and payments enabler, has announced a successful Pre-Seed funding raise of $700,000.
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Scale, an issuer orchestration platform and payments enabler, has announced a successful Pre-Seed funding raise of $700,000, led by early-stage investors 54 Collective and First Circle Capital. Sunny Side Venture Partners and angel investors from the industry also participated.
The fundraise will accelerate Scale’s market entry into Kenya, Zambia, and Côte d'Ivoire.
In less than a year, Scale has secured investment, banking, network, and payment technology partners, positioning itself as a modern card issuing orchestration and infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) enabler.
“It’s not just what we do; it’s ingrained in the very fibre of our values. With the backing of our esteemed investors and partners, we are well-positioned to expedite our ecosystem engagement, build trust with African businesses and continue to strongly focus on solving major pain points when enabling card rails by delivering unrivalled, world class service,” commented Miranda Perumal, CEO of Scale.
According to Hetal Patel, chief investment officer at 54 Collective, by simplifying the card-issuing process and addressing key pain points, Scale is uniquely positioned to unlock value for its clients.
“At 54 Collective, we believe in backing ventures poised to disrupt industries and drive real impact across the continent, including through widening financial inclusion and enabling entrepreneurship and business growth. The Scale team, led by a rockstar female founder, deep sector expertise and proven bias toward action truly excite us, and we look forward to seeing Scale become a critical enabler for fintechs,” Patel says.
Selma Ribica of First Circle Capital, notes that the African continent as a whole has the lowest payment card penetration per capita in the world. African fintechs and corporates wanting to enhance their product offering by adding cards, face a range of challenges which slows down their ability to launch and manage the service.
“It takes approximately 18 months for any business to launch a card product, if achievable at all. This complex process requires technical expertise and a strong network across a wide range of partners for card management. Scale offers fintechs and corporates a card-as-a-service platform, a pre-approved card management scheme product including all the typical card features,” says Ribica.
Sadaharu Saiki, founder and GP of Sunny Side Venture Partners describes one of Africa’s most pressing challenges as access to and simplicity of payments. Even as numerous fintech solutions emerge, the card still remains the gold standard, especially as cross border transactions become an increasing necessity.
“Card penetration within the African market hasn’t been an easy job at all – until now. Scale is tackling the complex task of card issuing with remarkable ease, across multiple countries, and significantly improving the lives of people across the continent,” Saiki says.
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