“Can ArifPay become the foundational digital payments operating system for Ethiopia's underserved merchants, banks, and consumers?”
Founded in 2021, ArifPay set out to be Ethiopia's foundational digital payments layer, targeting a market with low card penetration and a rapidly digitizing economy. It became Ethiopia's first licensed POS Payment System Operator, building both point-of-sale (ArifPOS) and gateway (ArifGateway) infrastructure simultaneously. By 2023–2024, the company expanded into developer APIs, mobile wallets, and utility/airtime/eCommerce bill payments, positioning itself as a full-stack payments platform for banks, retail chains, and MSMEs rather than a single-product fintech.
ArifPay processes payments through ArifGateway (self-operated).
ArifPay is founded in 2021 and headquartered in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
ArifPay has raised 140 million ETB (~$3.5M USD) in total (latest round: Seed, 2021).
Get a read on where your own stack stands against ArifPay and the rest of its category — what they built versus bought, which providers they use, and where the gaps in your own strategy and competitive set actually are.