Months after completing its first seed round, South African Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) startup Talk360 has raised another $3 million, bringing the total investment raised in the round to $7 million. .
Talk360’s newest investors include Allan Gray E2 Ventures (AGEV), Kalon Venture Partners, E4E Africa, Endeavor, existing leading investor HAVAÍC, and a number of angel investors including Tjaart van der Walt and Coenraad Jonker. It is included.
The company plans to use the new funding to launch a pan-African payments platform and grow its VoIP market share next year. Talk360’s payment platform unites “all payment options” on the African continent, creating a diverse pool of localized payment options and making it easier for international and local businesses to sell to buyers residing in Africa .
“This new platform will enable users across the continent to purchase products and services using any currency and over 160 payment methods.It will also be open to other merchants,” Talk360 said in a statement. said.
In a previous TechCrunch interview, Talk360 said its decision to become a payment aggregator was based on the challenges it faced implementing digital payment options that impacted the revenue of its internet calling business.
Dean Hiine, co-founder of the startup and managing director of Africa, told TechCrunch that existing digital payment methods in Africa are scattered, some involving time-consuming and complex processes. said it affects conversion rates.
Hiine, who co-founded the startup with Hans Osnabrugge and Jorne Schamp in 2016, hopes to use the payment platform to enable more people across the continent to make international calls through the app. Talk360 users pay to make calls. Its platform is built so that all you need is an app and the internet (smartphone) to initiate a call.
“Our mission is to bridge distances and connect lives by providing reliable, affordable and easy-to-use digital services delivered in a localized manner to all communities, especially emerging countries. It allows them to connect to the world,” said Hiine.
The startup also has a network of agents, including Kenya’s PesaPoint and South Africa’s Flash, where users can purchase airtime vouchers from over 750,000 physical points of sale.
“But we are not just solving socio-economic problems. .”
The company says its internet calling app has connected 2.3 million people worldwide so far this year, increasing customer numbers by 167% and revenue by 130%. The app has active users in over 170 countries including South Africa, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh.
“Based on our strong progress so far in the South African market and our potential in other parts of Africa, we have invested further in Talk360. It has demonstrated a true ability to solve challenges, says Ian Lessem, Managing Partner of HAVAÍC.
