SA Fintech Ecosystem Brief | April 2026

The last 30 days have not been about big funding announcements. They have been about infrastructure. What is being built right now will shape how capital and transactions move through SA fintech over the next two to three years. That is where the real focus should be.

What moved in April

Funding: fewer headlines, clearer direction

Publicly disclosed SA fintech equity in April was limited. NectarFi closed a small pre seed round of around 170 thousand dollars, which points to continued early stage experimentation. But the bigger story sits in the quarter behind us.

In Q1 2026, African fintechs raised roughly 187 million dollars across 21 deals. That is nearly 400 percent up on Q4 2025. South African companies were part of that recovery. Looking at 2025 overall, 42 SA startups raised around 336 million dollars, with fintech making up 37 percent of total tech funding. Average deal sizes have also increased, which suggests capital is concentrating in more established players.

A few Q1 deals help frame what we are seeing:

• Lula closed a 340 million rand facility to scale its SME lending as a service offering in February

• Happy Pay raised 5 million dollars at seed stage to expand BNPL into higher cost credit segments across Africa in March

• NjiaPay secured 2.1 million dollars to grow its payment performance tooling for merchants in March

The pattern is fairly clear. Activity at the very early stage and then again at scale. There is less happening in the middle.

Regulation: direction is tightening

There are three regulatory threads worth watching.

PEM Payments Ecosystem Modernisation

SARB hosted its first PEM industry dialogue for 2026 on 9 and 10 April. Discussions covered QR based scan to pay standards, the PEMKey digital credential system, and progress on core infrastructure upgrades including RTGS, fast payments, and alternative messaging rails.

The key takeaway is that activity based licensing is on the way. Qualifying non banks such as fintechs and even retailers will be able to access clearing and settlement directly. Implementation is targeted from the second half of 2026. This is already in motion, not theoretical.

Capital flows and exchange control

National Treasury is working on what is being positioned as one of the biggest financial reforms in decades. If implemented as expected, it would allow foreign currency funds to operate locally and bring crypto assets fully into the capital control framework. This will likely develop further in the second half of the year.

FSCA regulatory posture

The FSCA’s 2025 to 2028 strategy continues to focus on open finance, CASP licensing with around 300 licences issued by the end of 2025, and upcoming guidance on AI in financial services.

Across regulators, the direction is consistent. There is less ambiguity and more defined rules. Areas like BNPL, stablecoins, and AI are moving out of grey zones into formal frameworks.

Fintechs still operating as if that grey zone will remain, need to adjust.

Partnerships and consolidation

Capitec and Wise

Capitec has integrated Wise Platform to enable international payments directly within its app. Wise already holds a category-two ADLA licence in South Africa. This brings faster and lower cost cross border payments into one of the country’s largest retail customer bases.

It also signals something broader. Global infrastructure players are choosing regulated partnerships in SA rather than going direct to consumers.

Ozow and Lula

A payments provider and an SME lender are now working together to originate working capital finance using transaction data. Embedded lending within payment platforms is now being executed in this market.

Onafriq and Circle

Onafriq’s integration with Circle, using USD Coin for cross border payments, continues to be a reference point for institutions exploring dollar linked settlement rails.

Lesaka Technologies and Bank Zero

Lesaka’s planned acquisition of Bank Zero, pending regulatory approval expected around mid 2026, would give a listed fintech group access to a full banking licence. The lines between payments, merchant services and banking continue to blur.

Sub sectors to watch

Four areas continue to show consistent activity:

• SME embedded finance - Lending distributed through platforms using transaction data for underwriting. Lula and the Ozow-Lula model are leading local examples.

• BNPL Regulatory clarity is coming. Operators need to prepare ahead of it rather than respond after the fact.

• Stablecoins and digital asset payments - FSCA licensed players and regional networks are building real infrastructure. Work on both rand linked and foreign currency stablecoin frameworks is progressing.

• AI in financial services - South Africa accounts for 43.8 percent of funded AI startups in Africa. Regulatory guidance from the FSCA and Prudential Authority is expected. Current use cases such as credit scoring, fraud detection, and customer engagement will need to align with that.

Cross border

South Africa’s G20 commitment to improve cross border payments by 2027 is starting to translate into practical infrastructure work.

Capitec and Wise is one example. Regional systems like PAPSS, PesaLink and TCIB corridors are others. USDC based settlement is also being used by SA players expanding across the continent, not as an experiment but as a working solution.

There are also early discussions around regulatory passporting. Bilateral cooperation between regulators could open the door to mutual licence recognition and more seamless payments interoperability, at least in pilot form.

The infrastructure being built across these areas will likely matter more than any individual funding round announced this month.

FINASA tracks regulation, deals and ecosystem shifts across South Africa and the broader continent. If anything here is relevant to your work, bring it into one of the working groups or reach out to the team.