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South Africa's biggest retailers bets on South Africa's informal economy with $1.3 billion ...
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Fusion42 · 23 July 2026 · Fusion42 review
Pepkor Holdings is merging its fintech subsidiary Flash with merchant payments platform Shop2Shop to create FintechCo, a R21.3 billion ($1.3 billion) fintech platform targeting South Africa's informal economy of township merchants and small traders. The combined business will process over R200 billion in annual transactions and may eventually be listed separately on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
This Wire brief sits within Fusion42's coverage of Fintech, and 2 sources have reported it between 22 Jul 2026 and 23 Jul 2026.
◆ ◆ The Wire takeaway
If you're building fintech for informal traders in Africa, you're now competing against a R200 billion annual transaction platform backed by a major retailer with 177,000 merchant relationships already live. The playbook is clear: payments and cash handling, not inventory, is where the real margin is.
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2 sources · first reported 22 Jul 2026 · latest 23 Jul 2026
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