Ozow
Ozow is a South African pay-by-bank payment gateway connecting merchants to 47 million bank account holders across 10 banks via instant EFT, Open Banking integrations, and consumer P2P/wallet apps, generating revenue primarily through merchant transaction fees.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2013
- HeadquartersCape Town, South Africa
- Headcount101–250
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Ozow does
Ozow is a South African fintech operating a pay-by-bank payment gateway that enables instant electronic funds transfers directly from consumer bank accounts, eliminating the need for card rails. Founded in 2013 and headquartered in Cape Town with 150+ employees, Ozow connects merchants across e-commerce, retail, gaming, telecommunications, and government to 47 million bank account holders through direct integrations with 10 major South African banks (Capitec, FNB, Standard Bank, ABSA, Nedbank, TymeBank, Investec, Bidvest Bank, and African Bank). The core platform is Pay by Bank (Instant EFT), supplemented by Card Payments, Crypto Payments (via MoneyBadger), Buy Now Pay Later (via Happy Pay), biometric authentication (Ozow PIN), and digital wallet integrations (Apple Pay, Google Pay). The company also operates Ozow.ME, a consumer-facing peer-to-peer payment app with a digital wallet (Pocket) supporting QR payments, airtime/data/electricity purchases, and lottery tickets, plus cash-in points at Pick n Pay and Nedbank ATMs.
The company's technology architecture rests on Open Banking APIs with embedded distribution through bank partnerships (Capitec Pay, Nedbank Direct EFT, Absa Pay), a customizable merchant API, and pre-built integrations for 18+ e-commerce platforms (Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, Xero, BigCommerce, etc.). A patent-pending method (Ozow PIN) handles secure storage of bank credentials using biometric authentication. Ozow is licensed by the Payments Association of South Africa as a Systems Operator and Third-Party Payments Provider, holds PCI DSS Level 1 compliance, and has demonstrated cross-border capabilities in the SARB regulatory sandbox.
Ozow generates revenue primarily through transaction fees charged to merchants as a percentage of successful payment volume, with no monthly subscriptions, activation, or deactivation fees. The consumer-facing Ozow.ME app generates ancillary transaction-based revenue from airtime, data, electricity, and lottery ticket sales. Distribution combines self-serve merchant onboarding via signup.ozow.com, an enterprise direct sales team, OEM/embedded bank partnerships, and a developer-first API platform. The company raised $48 million in Series B funding led by Tencent in November 2021, bringing total capital raised to over $51 million, with stated plans for sub-Saharan African expansion into Namibia, Ghana, Kenya, and Nigeria.
Ozow firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Ozow
- Legal name
- Ozow (Pty) Ltd
- Website
- https://ozow.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2013
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 101–250 employees
- Short description
- Ozow is a South African pay-by-bank payment gateway connecting merchants to 47 million bank account holders across 10 banks via instant EFT, Open Banking integrations, and consumer P2P/wallet apps, generating revenue primarily through merchant transaction fees.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Ozow industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Payment Gateway Software
- akta.pro primary industry
- A2A Checkout & Merchant Acceptance Solutions (FSAMAFAF)
Keywords
Where Ozow is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Cape Town
- HQ country
- South Africa
- HQ region
- Africa
Offices2 records
Markets served
Ozow business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Operations
Revenue model
- Transaction Fees: Merchants pay a percentage of successful transaction values processed through Ozow. No monthly subscriptions, activation, or deactivation fees. This is the primary revenue stream.
- Ozow.ME Services: Revenue from airtime, data, and electricity purchases made through the Ozow.ME app. Fees are charged per transaction according to the product fee structure.
- Lotto Tickets: Ozow.ME allows users to purchase LOTTO, LOTTO Plus 1, and LOTTO Plus 2 tickets, generating revenue from ticket sales.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Transaction based/ take rate | Pay-as-you-go | Transaction-based pricing with no fixed costs |
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Ozow.ME airtime and data purchases |
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Ozow.ME Cash to Pocket deposits |
| Freemium | Pay-as-you-go | Consumer payments (free for payers) |
Go-to-market motion5 records
Distribution channels7 records
Marketing channels12 records
Ozow product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Ozow is a South African payment gateway that enables merchants to accept instant electronic funds transfer (EFT) payments directly from customers' bank accounts via Open Banking integration with 10 major South African banks. The platform offers Pay by Bank (Instant EFT), card payments, crypto payments, biometric authentication (Ozow PIN), and a consumer-facing peer-to-peer app (Ozow.ME) with a digital wallet (Pocket).
Product overview
Ozow is a South African payment gateway company offering a platform-plus-modules product architecture. The core platform is Pay by Bank (Instant EFT), enabling direct bank-to-bank payments, supplemented by Card Payments and Crypto Payments capabilities. The product portfolio includes consumer-facing solutions (Ozow.ME peer-to-peer app with Pocket wallet), merchant add-on modules (Refunds, Payouts, PayShap Request), digital wallet integrations (Google Pay, Apple Pay), bank-specific solutions (Capitec Pay, Nedbank Direct EFT, Absa Pay), and value-added services (Buy Now Pay Later via Happy Pay partnership, Payment Requests via WhatsApp, Voucher Redemption, One-Blink Payments biometric authentication). The Ozow Hub serves as the developer portal for API integration. Ozow connects businesses to over 47 million South African bank account holders across major banks including Capitec, FNB, Standard Bank, ABSA, Nedbank, TymeBank, Investec, Bidvest, and African Bank.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Ozow.ME: Peer-to-peer payment solution allowing users to make payments, pay friends, and receive payments with QR codes and SMS payment request links. Includes pocket functionality for digital wallet services.
- Ozow Pocket
- Ozow PIN
- Pay by Bank
- Capitec Pay
- Nedbank Direct EFT
- Absa Pay
- PayShap Request
Products and services
- Pay by Bank (Instant EFT) Core payment gateway enabling instant bank-to-bank EFT payments without requiring a credit or debit card. Allows merchants to accept secure payments directly from customers' bank accounts with real-time payment notifications and automatic reconciliation. Used by South African online and in-store merchants across e-commerce, retail, gaming, and entertainment sectors.
- Card Payments Traditional credit and debit card payment processing solution offered through the Ozow payment gateway, supporting both online and in-store card transactions.
- Ozow.ME Peer-to-peer payment application (beta) for consumers enabling money transfers via QR codes and SMS payment request links. Supports pocket-to-pocket transfers, airtime purchases, electricity token purchases, and LOTTO ticket buying. Available on Google Play, Apple App Store, and Huawei AppGallery.
- Ozow Pocket Digital wallet feature allowing users to top up, send, pay, and withdraw funds. Supports cash deposits at Pick n Pay till points and Nedbank ATMs, with daily limits of R10,000 and monthly limits of R30,000.
- Crypto Payments Cryptocurrency payment integration powered by MoneyBadger, enabling merchants to accept Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies with instant settlement in South African Rand. Supports wallets including Bitcoin Lightning, Luno, VALR, and Binance.
- One-Blink Payments (Ozow PIN) Biometric authentication payment solution (Ozow PIN) enabling customers to complete payments using fingerprint or facial recognition for faster, more secure transactions without entering card details. Uses a patent-pending method for secure storage of bank credentials.
- Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) Interest-free installment payment option enabled through partnership with Happy Pay, allowing customers to split payments over two paycheques. Merchants receive weekly settlement of full transaction values without additional development work.
Quantifiable outcome
- 6+ million registered users transacting on the platform
- +4 more outcomes
Companies that use Ozow
Customer profileNamed customers25 records
Segments6 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Ozow technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration19 records
Feature6 records
Ozow partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- Happy PaycoreOzow partnered with Happy Pay to integrate Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) functionality into Ozow's merchant network across South Africa. Merchants can offer customers interest-free payment splits over two paycheques without additional development work, while businesses receive weekly settlement of full transaction values. The partnership aims to boost merchant conversion rates, reduce cart abandonment, and position Ozow as a full commerce enablement platform.
- DuplocoreNigerian fintech company Duplo partnered with Ozow to offer integrated financial operations to South African businesses. The partnership combines Ozow's payment rails with Duplo's financial operating system, enabling businesses to automate invoicing, reconciliation, and expense management on a single platform. The collaboration aims to help finance teams reduce manual administrative processes and improve cash flow.
- MoneyBadgercoreOzow integrated cryptocurrency as a primary payment solution through partnership with MoneyBadger, South Africa's Bitcoin-centric payments technology provider. The integration allows customers to pay from crypto wallets including Bitcoin Lightning, Luno, VALR, and Binance, with instant settlement in South African Rand. Merchants gain access to crypto users with reduced fraud rates and potentially lower transaction costs.
- LulaminorOzow partnered with Lula to expand access to SME funding in South Africa, mentioned in company blog content about financial inclusion initiatives.
- XerocoreXero integration allows Ozow merchants to automatically reconcile payments with their accounting software, streamlining financial workflows.
- ShopifycoreShopify merchants can easily integrate Ozow payments through the Shopify app marketplace, enabling instant EFT payments for e-commerce stores.
- Capitec BankcoreCapitec Pay partnership brings Ozow's Open Banking and Pay By Bank capabilities to Capitec customers, creating a powerful open banking integration for South African consumers and merchants.
- NedbankcoreNedbank Direct EFT partnership enables Nedbank customers to make instant EFT payments through Ozow's payment gateway.
- AbsacoreAbsa Pay partnership integrates Ozow's payment solutions with Absa's banking infrastructure for seamless customer payments.
- Pick n PayminorPick n Pay till points serve as cash deposit locations for Ozow.ME Pocket users to add funds to their digital wallets.
- Nedbank ATMsminorNedbank ATMs serve as cash deposit points for Ozow.ME Pocket wallet top-ups.
Scale indicators9 records
Recent moves7 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Ozow competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Stitch: South African open-banking payments and financial data connectivity provider; competes head-to-head with Ozow for pay-by-bank merchant integrations and consumer bank aggregation in the same South African market.
- Peach Payments: South African payment gateway offering card, EFT, and alternative payment methods to merchants; directly overlaps with Ozow's e-commerce merchant acquiring and API integration value proposition.
- Yoco: South African payments and small-business commerce platform providing card machines and online payment acceptance; overlaps with Ozow's SME/self-serve merchant acquiring and point-of-sale use cases.
- PayJustNow: South African Buy Now, Pay Later provider integrated with online merchants; directly comparable as Ozow's BNPL competitor via the Happy Pay partnership, targeting the same checkout slot in SA e-commerce.
- PayShap: South Africa's national real-time payment scheme launched by the major banks; competes with Ozow's instant-EFT rail by enabling direct account-to-account payments in seconds across participating banks.
Regional players
- Paystack: African payment gateway (Stripe-owned) operating across Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, and Kenya; comparable product offering (online checkout, EFT, multi-method acceptance) but with primary traction outside South Africa.
- Flutterwave: Pan-African payment processor for online and cross-border commerce; overlaps with Ozow on multi-market payment acceptance and developer-first API integration, though primarily operational across West and East Africa.
Broad incumbents
- Stripe: Global online payment gateway with API-first developer tooling comparable to Ozow's integration model; competes in the broader digital payments space and offers South African merchants alternative card plus local-method support.
- Adyen: Global unified commerce platform serving enterprise merchants with multi-method payment processing; competes for the same large South African enterprise customers (retail, gaming, telecom) that Ozow onboards.
Emerging players
- M-Pesa / Safaricom: Large-scale mobile money wallet and payment network dominant in East Africa; relevant peer for Ozow's consumer wallet (Pocket/Ozow.ME) strategy and as a benchmark for African mobile payment scale.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Ozow social profiles
Digital presenceOzow compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance5 records
Ozow financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Ozow leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles2 records
Ozow funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds6 records
Investors7 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Ozow M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Ozow
What does Ozow do?
Ozow is a South African payment gateway that enables merchants to accept instant electronic funds transfer (EFT) payments directly from customers' bank accounts via Open Banking integration with 10 major South African banks. The platform offers Pay by Bank (Instant EFT), card payments, crypto payments, biometric authentication (Ozow PIN), and a consumer-facing peer-to-peer app (Ozow.ME) with a digital wallet (Pocket).
Is Ozow a public or private company?
Ozow is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Ozow founded?
Ozow was founded in 2013. It employs 101 to 250 people.
Where is Ozow based?
Ozow is headquartered in Cape Town, South Africa, in the Africa region.
How does Ozow make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Transaction Fees are the primary driver. The others are ozow.ME Services and lotto Tickets.
Who are Ozow's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Stitch, Peach Payments, Yoco, PayJustNow and PayShap. Regional players are Paystack and Flutterwave. Broad incumbents are Stripe and Adyen. M-Pesa / Safaricom is listed as an emerging player.
Does Ozow have an API?
Yes. Ozow offers a customisable API that enables merchants to integrate payment processing. The API supports pre-populating forms, fraud reduction, and improved payment completion times. API account details are accessible through the Ozow Dashboard (dash.ozow.com) under Merchant Details. Supports Google and Microsoft authentication for merchant onboarding. Developer documentation is at hub.ozow.com.
What industry is Ozow in?
Ozow's product category is Payment Gateway Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is FSAMAFAF, A2A Checkout & Merchant Acceptance Solutions.