Rwandan startup HeptaPay now provides cross-border micropayments
Rwandan startup HeptaPay now allows users to instantly transfer money from their debit or credit card to mobile money accounts in East Africa, according to a report by Disrupt Africa.
The new product, HeptaPay, which officially went live in Rwanda in 2020 and later in Kenya and Burundi allows users to send money to Rwanda, Kenya and Burundi on all major telcos from anywhere in the world, with the startup preparing to go live in Uganda as well.
Currently funded by angel investment, the startup was a recent graduate of the fintech incubation programme run by CcHub and Google in Kigali.
The company said it set out to solve the problem of 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,” which resonated with many.
The service will now allow techies and developers to get paid by their international customers. International students in Africa can use HeptaPay to receive small payments from their loved ones from anywhere in the world
Apart from being used by expatriates in African countries who want to top up their mobile money wallets, HeptaPay can also "be used by companies to trade regionally,” according to co-founder Emmanuel Chebukati.
HeptaPay now joins a growing list of African fintech startups like; ChipperCash Flutterwave, MFS Africa, and Mpesa that offer cross-border payment services. Kuda also recently launched its remittance offering to Nigerians in the UK.
