South African API fintech startup Stitch has announced that it has raised $21 million in a Series A funding round. The startup also raised $4 million early last year and a further $2 million seed extension.
The round was led by New York-based long-term investment firm, The Spruce House Partnership, PayPal Ventures, TrueLayer, firstminute capital, The Raba Partnership, CRE Venture Capital, Village Global, as well as fintech founders and companies such as TrueLayer, founders of Chipper Cash, Quovo and Unit, and Guillaume Pousaz’s Zinal Growth.
The new raise brings the total to date to $27 million.
Launched by Kiaan Pillay, Priyen Pillay, and Natalie Cuthbert in 2021, Stitch is an API infrastructure company that enables simple, easy access to user financial accounts in Africa with a lightweight single Sign-On experience, reducing the technical and operational effort.
Stitch says the fund will be used to expand its team across offices in Cape Town, Johannesburg, and Lagos, launch new product offerings and enter new markets across the continent.
The startup also wants to build the infrastructure and core functionality for the “financial graph” across Africa. The financial graph refers to a connected network of financial capabilities that interoperates across regions, providers, banks, and other types of financial accounts.
With access to the graph, businesses can write code once to build their foundation, and easily launch new products or expand into multiple markets without needing to rebuild the infrastructure from scratch. So Stitch is working with key partners in each market to build the tapestry of the future money movement.
It believes that if it gets it right, it could unlock enormous opportunities for fintech innovators and act as a catalyst for economic acceleration in traditionally fragmented markets.
