Sticitt, a South African fintech startup, has received an oversubscribed round of seed funding to help it grow.
Sticitt, which was co-founded in January 2018 by Theo Kitshoff, Mitch Dart, and Dennis Wevel, simplifies payments within the South African education market with its simple payment system, Sticitt Pay, which offers niche communities an alternative payment solution to cash, formal banking, and card-based payments.
Sticitt, which is primarily focused on the education market, raised $250,000 in funding in 2020 and has now secured a strategic investment from a consortium led by Nustate Capital Ventures in a seed round that was 1.5X oversubscribed. Grindstone Ventures, Nustate Capital Ventures, Hlayisani Capital, Realm Digital, and GalloProvincialis are among the investment consortium members.
“Financial education is critical for economic growth because it gives people the opportunity to have a better tomorrow by using money as an enabling tool in their lives.” Sticitt Pay, our first product, is a cashless payment platform that provides schools with an integrated smart payment system that is safe and simple to use. It is the first important step in our journey to simplify education-related payments and to build toward a youth banking alternative. This round of funding will enable us to reach more schools, parents, and students, as well as expand our product roadmap focused on education-related payments and youth banking,” said Theo Kitshoff, CEO of Sticitt.
Dr. Eugene van Rensburg, partner at Hlayisani Capital and Sticitt director, stated that South Africa has one of the lowest household saving rates in the world, which has a direct impact on the country’s ability to generate meaningful GDP growth and makes people vulnerable to economic shocks.
“Improving the socioeconomic outlook for all South Africans requires the use of user-centric financial technology to make the fundamentals of personal finance more accessible to the youth and their families.” With this investment, Sticitt will be able to accelerate product development, school deployment, and significantly contribute to the upliftment of students, parents, and schools,” he said.
