Partech leads about $10 million investment in South Africa’s fintech to scale Africa’s merchant banking

Global venture capital firm Partech has led a $9.5 million Series A funding round in South African fintech littlefish, backing its push to expand merchant banking infrastructure across Africa.

The round, which also drew participation from TLCOM, Flourish Ventures, and Proparco, underscores growing investor interest in platforms enabling banks to better serve small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Betting on fintech infrastructure for banks
Partech’s investment reflects a broader strategy of backing B2B fintech infrastructure that strengthens financial institutions rather than displacing them.

littlefish operates a merchant operating system that integrates point-of-sale applications, customer relationship management tools, merchant portals, payments, and APIs into a unified platform connected directly to banks’ core systems.

This allows tier-1 lenders such as Standard Bank, First National Bank, and Absa to deliver fintech-grade services while maintaining control of merchant relationships.

Scaling across Africa’s SME ecosystem
The capital injection will support littlefish’s expansion into more than 10 African markets, including Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Zambia.

Since its seed round, littlefish has recorded 30-fold growth in monthly recurring revenue, signaling strong adoption among financial institutions seeking to digitize SME services.

A strategic partnership with Visa has further embedded the platform into SME onboarding processes, strengthening its position within Africa’s merchant ecosystem.

Investor confidence in SME-focused platforms
Partech, the global VC firm and the largest Africa-focused fund on the continent backing many companies, sees littlefish as a critical layer in Africa’s financial infrastructure, particularly as banks compete to capture the continent’s growing SME segment.

Co-investor Proparco, through its Choose Africa VC initiative, highlighted the role of such platforms in advancing financial inclusion and digitization, while Flourish Ventures pointed to littlefish’s disciplined growth and deep integration with major banking partners.

By leading the $9.5 million funding round, Partech is doubling down on infrastructure-driven fintech models that enable banks to scale SME services. As littlefish expands across the continent, the investment positions Partech at the center of Africa’s evolving merchant banking landscape.