South Africa’s Fintech Startup Float Raises $2.6m (R46 Million) to Scale

Four-year-old card-linked instalment platform Float has secured $2.6 million (R46 million) in funding co-led by Invenfin and SAAD Investment Holdings, with participation from all existing investors, including Platform Investment Partners. Lighthouse Venture Partners also participated and played an advisory role on the deal.

The funding will be used to scale Float’s South African operations, enhance its proprietary technology platform and prepare for future market expansion as the company continues its triple-digit growth trajectory.

Float is reimagining how consumers use credit by providing a budget-friendly, interest- and fee-free instalment solution that promotes responsible spending and greater affordability. In an economic environment where a significant majority of cardholders struggle to manage repayments, Float’s proprietary technology allows shoppers to split purchases into flexible instalments – without taking on new credit facilities and without incurring interest or fees.

The platform currently serves over 2,000 stores and processes thousands of high-value transactions monthly, with industry-leading average order values of around R10,000 and merchants seeing over 130% increases in average order values.

Alex Forsyth-Thompson, founder and CEO of Float, said: “This funding round represents a significant vote of confidence in our approach to responsible credit usage, our ability to deliver genuine value to both merchants and shoppers, and the international scalability of our solution. While other platforms focus on issuing new credit, we’re empowering millions of consumers to manage their existing credit better, while further unlocking a multi-trillion-dollar opportunity for merchants.”

Float’s platform stands out through its focus on responsible credit usage, offering far more flexible instalment terms, and providing merchants with the ability to customise and control their instalment offerings fully.

“Credit cards remain one of the best cashflow tools available to consumers when used responsibly. What sets Float apart is our focus on enabling that responsible usage while keeping the credit card as the preferred way to pay,” added Forsyth-Thompson. “By giving shoppers more flexibility and control, we help them manage their budgets and maintain strong credit records, all while merchants benefit from higher-value transactions and a more loyal customer base.”

Float has secured strategic partnerships with major payment processors, including Peach Payments and Adumo, enabling seamless omni-channel processing across online, in-store and payment links.

Theo van den Berg, investment executive at co-lead investor Invenfin commented: “We’ve been very impressed with Alex, Paul Masson, CFO and COO, the Float team’s execution and ambition and are proud to partner with them. Float has created a genuinely differentiated proposition in the South African payments landscape, with its card-linked approach addressing a clear market gap while promoting responsible credit usage. The company’s impressive market traction, combined with its experienced management team and scalable technology platform, makes this an extremely compelling investment opportunity in the fast-growing fintech sector.”

Johann Snyman, Private Equity Principal for SAAD commented: “At SAAD we love backing impressive entrepreneurs who are busy scaling remarkable businesses – Float ticks both these boxes for us and we’re excited for what the future holds for Alex and team.”

Since launching in November 2021, Float has built partnerships with hundreds of merchants, including household names like iStore, Samsung, The Pro Shop, CycleLab, Dial-a-Bed, Cape Union Mart and MiFitness, processing transactions worth millions of rands monthly.

Last year, Standard Bank provided an $11 million (R200 million) facility to Float, providing access to growth capital.