Stitch, a payments and data API fintech, has announced the launch of LinkPay, a linked-account payments product. Businesses in South Africa and Nigeria can use LinkPay to accept secure, one-click payments directly from an user’s bank account.
Payments are as simple as they are with a tokenised card, but without the high fees or chargebacks. LinkPay can be used in conjunction with Stitch Payouts and Financial Data to provide a full linked-account experience, including verified payments, refunds, and withdrawals.
Commenting on the product launch, Junaid Dadan, Chief Product Officer at Stitch, said: “With LinkPay, Stitch can enable businesses to offer a more frictionless and secure payments experience, making it easier than ever for their customers to pay and save costs.”
“Combined with Stitch Financial Data and Payouts products, LinkPay offers a truly unique closed-loop linked-account experience for returning users – from fast, seamless onboarding, to one-click payments and payouts.As a result, businesses will see higher conversion rates, a reduction in costs and ultimately a more convenient experience for their users.”
Traditional payment methods are no longer meeting the needs of Africa’s consumers, who demand faster, more convenient and more secure ways to pay.
As well, businesses face long settlement times, high fees (up to 3.5% in South Africa) and chargebacks from card transactions, and high rates of fraud, impacting their ability to grow. In South Africa, fraud committed on debit cards was about R520.5 million ($319,952/₦133,000,000) in 2020.
Additionally, manual bank transfer payment is time-consuming and high-friction, and repeat transactions require users logging in and initiating payments in a unique way every time.To help tackle this challenge, Stitch, an API fintech firm that helps businesses easily develop, optimize, and grow financial products across Africa, has launched LinkPay, a linked-account payments platform.
Stitch LinkPay addresses these challenges with a more cost-effective, frictionless and secure payments product that tokenises user financial accounts to enable one-click payments (known as Instant EFT in South Africa and pay by bank in Nigeria):
● One-click payments for returning users: Returning users can choose to link their financial accounts as a default payment method by logging in via Stitch once, and can top up or checkout in one click every time after – no repeat login required
● Link and pay later: Users can pre-link an account and come back anytime to make a payment. This is useful for products such as scan-to-pay apps, investment offerings, and any fintech application that involves repeat transactions from the same primary financial account
● Verified payments: Once a user’s account is linked, LinkPay can be combined with Stitch Financial Data to reference account details such as name or ID for verified payments with reduced risk of fraud. In addition, balances and transactions history can also be checked for ‘smart’ payments that fail less.
● Seamless payouts over API: Combining LinkPay + Stitch Payouts enables users to receive refunds or make withdrawals to the same verified account used for a pay-in
Core use cases for Stitch LinkPay include:
● Fintechs: Returning users for digital wallets, investment and savings apps, scan to pay solutions and more can make fast, secure deposits, pay for services and withdraw funds whenever they need, via the same verified financial account
● Marketplaces and platforms: Users can link a bank account to their ride-hailing, delivery, or marketplace profile for quick checkouts, and suppliers can get paid same-day
● E-commerce businesses: For e-commerce businesses that enable logged-in checkouts, returning users can pay with one click via their saved payment method
Businesses interested in integrating Stitch LinkPay can access test credentials and get started in minutes via the Stitch self-serve platform. For the next three months, businesses in South Africa integrating Stitch LinkPay can also access Financial Data at no cost.
In February 2021, Stitch emerged from stealth, and in October 2021, it expanded into Nigeria. In February 2022, the company received $21 million in Series A funding. Backers include PayPal Ventures, TrueLayer, firstminute capital, The Raba Partnership, CRE Venture Capital, Village Global, Zinal Growth (the investment vehicle of Checkout.com founder Guillaume Pousaz) and angels including founders and early builders from Chipper Cash, Monzo, Venmo, GoCardless, Plaid, Unit and more.
