Africa’s Top Bank Has Acquired A 40% Stake In A South African Fleet Management Startup
South Africa’s Payment24, which describes itself as a digital fuel management solutions and telematics startup, has secured an undisclosed investment from Standard Bank in a deal that has seen the bank acquire a 40 percent stake in the startup.
Launched in 2014, Payment24 runs a platform that aims to eliminate the hassle of managing, monitoring and controlling fleet fuelling transactions using real-time, mobile and cloud technologies.
The startup claims to support companies with large fleets and already boasts wide adoption of its fuel management app via partnerships with major filling stations.
Although the company’s technology — which serves up such solutions as fleet fuel management, mobile fuelling, vehicle tracking, telematics, and geofencing solutions — is developed in South Africa, Payment24 claims to also be offering its services in other African countries.
Both Shadab Rahil and Nolan Daniel who are joint CEO of Payment24, said the new deal comes on the back of a successful three-year relationship with various divisions of Standard Bank. This included the launching of the BlueFuel Fleet Card system in neighbouring Southern African nation, Namibia.
“We have had a good relationship with Standard Bank for some years, and our new partnership presents opportunities for both Standard Bank and Payment24,” said Rahil.
“Standard Bank is the biggest bank in Africa, so this gives Payment24 leverage for growth into new markets and customer segments across the continent. We are already on a growth trajectory, but this new deal positions us for further exponential growth. We see this as a very strong partnership, with synergies across a number of divisions.”
According to Standard Bank’s Execute Head of Fleet Management, Derick De Vries, the investment will help Standard Bank Fleet Management to strengthen its footprint across the African continent.
De Vries also mentioned that this development would allow Standard Bank to provide its customers and oil company partners with an effective and digitally-enabled solution to facilitate fuel, repairs and toll purchases across the 35 transport hubs and corridors in Africa.
He added that Standard Bank’s Payment24 stake buy was influenced by a number of factors. And one of those is the fact that the activities of Payment24 seem to align with the bank’s focus on developing meaningful relationships that provide innovative solutions for clients.
Until now, Payment24’s had last raised funding in 2018, as per data from CrunchBase, and it was a seed round of an undisclosed amount.
