Fintech companies in South Africa are changing the way people save, spend, invest and get credit, making the country a hotbed for new ideas in financial technology. These businesses are making it easier than ever to get financial services, whether you’re a small business owner in Johannesburg or someone who wants to send money home to family.
The fintech industry in South Africa has grown a lot and now makes up more than 40% of all fintech revenue in Africa. South Africa has become the continent’s center for financial innovation, with over 1,400 fintech companies currently doing business there.
What Sets South African Fintech Companies Apart
Fintech or financial technology, is just the use of technology to improve financial services by making them faster, cheaper and better. You can now open a bank account on your phone in minutes or send money right away instead of waiting in long lines at the bank or filling out a lot of paperwork.
Fintech companies in South Africa have grown quickly because they are helping regular South Africans with problems they face every day. High bank fees, limited access to credit and the hassle of traditional banking have all made it easier for new ideas to come up. Fintech services can now reach people who weren’t able to use formal financial systems before because millions of South Africans now own smartphones.
A Look At South Africa’s Fintech Ecosystem
South Africa has one of the most developed fintech ecosystems in Africa, with more than 100 fintech startups that offer services like payments, banking, credit and data. A lot of these are about digital payments and financial inclusion, which shows that people in the area want modern financial infrastructure and digital ways to pay instead of cash.
Top 10 Fintech Companies In South Africa
In 2026, we’ll look at some of South Africa’s most successful and fastest-growing fintech startups. We’ll talk about what they offer, what they’ve done recently and what they have planned for the next year and beyond. These top companies in their fields have seen a lot of growth and attracted investors’ attention, setting them up for more growth starting in 2026.
TymeBank
TymeBank is a fintech company in South Africa that stands out from the rest. TymeBank started with the goal of making banking affordable for all South Africans. Now, it is one of the fastest-growing digital banks in the world. What makes them different? No monthly fees for banking and the ability to open an account in less than five minutes.
TymeBank has quickly gained millions of customers who were sick of paying high bank fees. Their transaction costs are 30% to 50% lower than those of traditional banks.
Yoco
Yoco stands out among South African fintech companies because it focuses on small and medium-sized businesses. You know how hard it can be to take card payments if you’ve ever run a spaza shop or a small restaurant. That all changed with Yoco.
Yoco makes card machines that are cheap and help more than 200,000 small businesses take payments easily. Their devices are easy to use, don’t charge you monthly fees and connect directly to your phone.
Jumo
Jumo is a fintech company in South Africa that thinks outside of its own country. Jumo started in Cape Town in 2015 and has since grown into the best banking-as-a-service platform in the world, using AI to power financial services in Africa and Asia. They have helped more than 25 million customers get loans worth more than $6 billion.
Jumo is helping to build the financial infrastructure that Africa needs by working with mobile money operators, banks and fintech platforms in seven African markets, including South Africa, Ghana and Kenya.
Pineapple
When you think of fintech companies in South Africa, insurance might not be the first thing that comes to mind. But Pineapple is showing that even old-fashioned industries can change with new ideas. The insurtech startup has gotten tens of thousands of customers, almost half of whom are buying insurance for the first time. Pineapple’s main goal is to make insurance easy to understand, clear and cheap.
Onafriq
Onafriq, which used to be called MFS Africa, is one of the fintech companies in South Africa that is trying to make it easier to make payments across borders. They are working on a payment network that will connect mobile operators, banks and fintech companies across Africa.
This makes it easier and cheaper for most South Africans to send money to family in other African countries. Onafriq is one of Africa’s most valuable fintech companies.
VALR
VALR is the biggest cryptocurrency exchange in South Africa and has more than half a million customers around the world. VALR was started in 2018 and has made it easy for regular South Africans to buy, sell and trade crypto.
VALR gives you access to more than 100 cryptocurrencies and lets you do things like crypto staking, lending and even paying with crypto at Pick n Pay stores. This made it a safe, legal place to trade digital assets.
Paymenow
Bryan Habana, a former Springbok rugby player, helped start Paymenow in 2019. It is a group of fintech companies in South Africa that focus on financial wellness. The platform lets employees get some of their already-earned wages before payday, which is a cheaper option than payday loans. The company processes more than one million transactions a month for almost 500,000 active users.
Omnisient
Omnisient is one of the most cutting-edge fintech companies in South Africa. It uses privacy-preserving technology to help banks give credit to people who don’t have a credit history. Omnisient is changing the way banks check creditworthiness for underserved groups by looking at shopping habits and other types of data.
Ozow
Ozow has changed the way South African fintech companies handle digital payments by making instant EFT payments the second most popular way to pay in the country. Ozow, which started in 2014, lets millions of South Africans make bank-to-bank payments in a flash without needing a card.
Ozow processes more than $100 million a month for thousands of merchants. Ozow helps businesses by getting rid of chargebacks, lowering fees and sending instant payment notifications.
Peach Payments
Peach Payments started in 2012 and is now South Africa’s second-largest online payment gateway. It offers businesses all over Africa a full range of payment options. The business is based in South Africa, Kenya and Mauritius.
With just one integration, the platform lets merchants accept a wide range of payment methods, such as cards, EFT, digital wallets, mobile money and buy-now-pay-later options.
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