iKhokha
“Can a South African card-acquiring company become the financial operating system for the country's SMEs?”
Founded2012
HQUmhlanga Ridge, Durban, South Africa
FoundersMatt Putman, Ramsay Daly
Latest roundR225M ($15M) IFC investment into parent Adumo (2021)
IndustryFintech / SMB banking
The story
Founded 2012 as a mobile card-acceptance provider for South African SMEs (card machines + low transaction rates). Has expanded well beyond acquiring into a broader SME operating system: cash advances (iK Cash Advance), online payments (iK Pay Gateway, iK Pay Link), debit card with same-day payouts (iK Debit Card), accounting (iK Accounting), business insurance (iK Business Cover), prepaid airtime/data sales, and a POS system. Owned by Adumo group (formerly Crossfin Transactional Solutions) which also operates Sureswipe and Innervation.
Product timeline
2012
iKhokha founded in Durban, South Africa as a mobile card-acceptance fintech for SMEs.· founding
2021
IFC invests R225M into parent group Adumo, which holds majority stake in iKhokha alongside founders.· funding
2025
Launched iKhokha Elevate — positioned the full business ecosystem as an operating system for SMEs.· pivot
The stack
3 layers disclosed in iKhokha’s embedded-finance stack
Payments / PSP
iK Pay Gateway (self-operated)iK Pay Link (self-operated)iK Pay API (self-operated)iK Buy Button (self-operated)iK Webstore (self-operated)iK Tap on Phone (self-operated)iK Flyer card machine (self-operated)iK Flyer Lite card machine (self-operated)iK POS (self-operated)
Card issuing
in the full report
Accounting
in the full report
Accounting gap: minor
2 more providers across 2 layers, with confidence-scored evidence and source URLs, are in the Embedded Finance Index report.