Grace Ashiru
A report from Disrupt Africa says that a Rwandan startup called HeptaPay now lets users instantly transfer money from their debit or credit card to mobile money accounts in East Africa.
Users can send money to Rwanda, Kenya, and Burundi on all major telcos from anywhere in the globe using the new product, HeptaPay, which officially went live in Rwanda in 2020 and subsequently in Kenya and Burundi. The firm is also preparing to go live in Uganda.
Angel investments currently fund the startup. It finished the fintech incubator program that CcHub and Google ran in Kigali.
The company said it wanted to solve the lack of simple, fast, and secure cross-border micropayments in the region by making it as easy as “swiping” your card online to transfer micropayments from your foreign bank account to your local mobile money wallet. This made a lot of sense to many people.
Customers from all over the world will now be able to pay techies and developers. International students in Africa can use HeptaPay to get small payments from friends and family anywhere in the world.
Ex-pats use HeptaPay in African countries that want to add money to their mobile wallets. Co-founder Emmanuel Chebukati says that companies can also use it to trade with other companies in the region.
HeptaPay now joins ChipperCash Flutterwave, MFS Africa, and Mpesa as African fintech startups that offer cross-border payment services. Kuda also just started its money transfer service for Nigerians in the UK.
