Ozow
“Can pay-by-bank become the dominant alternative payment rail in account-rich, card-underpenetrated emerging markets like South Africa?”
Founded in 2014 as i-Pay, Ozow built an instant EFT payment gateway designed for South Africa's bank-heavy, card-light retail environment. Rebranded to Ozow in 2019 and scaled rapidly during COVID-19 as e-commerce demand surged. The 2021 Tencent-led Series B accelerated expansion beyond bank-rail collections into a multi-product PSP — adding card acquiring, Apple/Google Pay, PayShap Request, Payouts, crypto payments and a consumer wallet (Ozow.ME). The strategic bet is that South Africa's account-rich, card-underpenetrated market favours pay-by-bank rails over card rails as the dominant alternative payment method.