CINETPAY

What CINETPAY does

CinetPay is a Francophone African payment aggregator and digital payment platform founded in 2016 and headquartered in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. The company federates 64+ payment methods — including mobile money operators (Orange Money, MTN Money, Moov Money, Wave, TMoney, MPesa, Airtel Money, Free Money, Express Union), Visa and Mastercard card networks, and digital wallets — across 10+ French-speaking African countries plus France. It serves a heterogeneous customer base spanning government ministries, educational institutions, large enterprises (Sanlam, Addoha, Julaya, CHAPCHAP), NGOs, fintech platforms, and small businesses, with an addressable reach of approximately 356 million consumers in West Africa and 83 million in Central Africa. As of the available data, CinetPay serves over 25,000 merchants, processes over 80 billion FCFA in monthly transaction volume, and executes more than 6.5 million secure transactions per month.

The platform's core product suite consists of CinetPay Collect (online payment collection with payouts within 72 hours), CinetPay Payment Links (no-code payment links distributed via email/SMS/social), CinetPay Mass Payout (bulk disbursements of 5,000+ transfers in under 5 minutes with 98% delivery rate), CinetPay School Fees (education-vertical fee collection with automated reminders and real-time tracking), and CinetPay API Direct (developer-facing integration with webhook support). Supporting modules include CinetPay White Label (enterprise-branded payment aggregation), CinetPay E-Shop, CinetPay Facturation, and CinetPay Payout Links. The architecture is API-first with SDKs in PHP, Python, and JavaScript, backed by PCI-DSS certification and GDPR-compliant data handling.

CinetPay monetizes primarily through transaction-based take rates ranging from 1.3% (Côte d'Ivoire mobile money) to 5% (higher-risk corridors such as Airtel Niger, MTN Guinea) depending on country, payment method, and volume tier, with negotiated pricing for high-volume merchants. White-label licensing, enterprise contracts, and merchant aggregation fees provide secondary revenue streams. The go-to-market combines a self-serve/API/developer-portal motion with enterprise field sales targeting governments and large institutions, supported by partner/BDM referrals and white-label/OEM embedding. To date the company has raised $2.4 million (January 2022, co-invested by 4DX Ventures and Flutterwave) and operates 8 wholly-owned country subsidiaries plus a French office.

Name

CINETPAY

Legal name

CinetPay, Société par Actions Simplifiées de Droit Ivoirien

Website

https://cinetpay.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

CinetPay is a Francophone African payment aggregator unifying 64+ mobile money, card, and wallet methods across 10+ countries. It serves 25,000+ merchants — governments, schools, enterprises, and SMEs — with payment collection, mass payouts, and white-label infrastructure.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Payment Gateway / Mobile Money Aggregation

NAICS

Financial Transactions Processing, Reserve, and Clearinghouse Activities (52232)

SIC

Miscellaneous Business Credit Institution (6159)

akta.pro primary industry

Payouts, Disbursements & Mass Payments Infrastructure (FSAGABAN)

akta.pro secondary industries

Digital Payments & Money Movement (ACH/SEPA/FPS, Bill Pay, P2P) (FSAGAAAF), Embedded Payments (Pay-ins, Pay-outs, Wallets) (FSAGALAB), Payouts, Disbursements & Marketplace Split Payments (CRAFALAI)

Keywords

• Mobile money aggregation
• Payment gateway Africa
• Mass payout disbursement
• Digital payment collection
• Online payment platform

Headquarters

HQ city

Abidjan

Offices10 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Transaction Fees - CinetPay Collect: CinetPay charges transaction fees ranging from 1.5% to 5% depending on country and payment method for its online payment collection service. Fees vary by operator: Visa/Mastercard typically 3.5%, Mobile Money operators range from 1% to 5% depending on country. Volume-based pricing is available, with fees negotiable for high-volume merchants.
2. Transaction Fees - Mass Payout: Mass payout services charge between 1.5% and 2% depending on country and payout volume. For recharges by bank transfer or physical deposit, a fixed fee of 2% applies.
3. Transaction Fees - School Fees & Payment Links: School fees collection and payment link services charge between 1.5% and 3.5% depending on collection volume. Same rate structure as Collect, with volume-based pricing tiers available.
4. White Label / API Licensing: White label solution providing APIs, back-office, and maintenance services to enterprise partners who aggregate merchants under their own brand. Revenue from licensing and per-transaction fees. The service includes 4 preventive maintenance sessions and on-demand curative maintenance, with additional feature development potentially billed separately.
5. E-Shop and Invoicing Platform: CinetPay E-Shop allows entrepreneurs and small businesses to create online stores for free and accept mobile money and card payments. CinetPay Facturation enables invoice creation and payment collection. Revenue generated through transaction fees on payments processed through these platforms.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

CinetPay operates a payment aggregation platform that enables merchants to collect online payments via mobile money, bank cards, and digital wallets across 10+ French-speaking African countries, and to make mass disbursements to mobile money accounts. The core product portfolio includes CinetPay Collect (online payment collection), Payment Links (no-code collection), Mass Payout (bulk disbursements), School Fees (education-focused collection), and API Direct (developer integration), with white-label and invoicing modules for enterprise partners.

Product overview

CinetPay is a payment aggregation and digital payment platform operating across 10+ French-speaking African countries. The core product portfolio consists of CinetPay Collect (online payment collection), CinetPay Payment Links (no-code payment links), CinetPay Mass Payout (bulk disbursements), and CinetPay School Fees (education-focused payments). These are complemented by CinetPay API Direct for developer integrations, while additional modules include CinetPay White Label (enterprise branding), CinetPay E-Shop (online store creation), CinetPay Facturation (digital invoicing), CinetPay Envoi d'argent (money transfers), and CinetPay Payout Links (withdrawal links). The platform supports 64+ payment methods including mobile money operators (Orange Money, MTN, Wave, Moov, TMoney, MPesa, Airtel) and card networks (Visa, Mastercard) across 5 currencies.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• CinetPay Collect Online payment collection service enabling merchants to receive payments via mobile money (Orange, MTN, Wave, Moov, TMoney, Free, Airtel), bank cards (Visa, Mastercard), and digital wallets across 10+ French-speaking African countries, with payouts within 72 hours. Targeted at businesses, government institutions, and developers requiring unified payment acceptance.
• CinetPay Payment Links No-code payment link solution allowing merchants to create and share payment links via email, SMS, or social media to collect mobile money, card, and wallet payments 24/7 across 10+ countries without any technical integration. Targeted at non-technical SMEs, individual merchants, NGOs, and informal businesses.
• CinetPay Mass Payout Bulk disbursement solution enabling businesses to make over 5,000 simultaneous transfers to suppliers, employees, service providers, and customers via mobile money within 5 minutes, with 98% delivery rate, sub-2-second processing, dual validation, and customizable access levels. Targeted at governments, enterprises, NGOs, and platforms requiring salary, benefit, and supplier payments.
• CinetPay School Fees Specialized payment solution for educational institutions enabling online collection of registration fees, tuition, cafeteria, and other fees via mobile money, cards, and wallets with automated reminders and real-time payment tracking. Targeted at schools, universities, and grandes écoles in Francophone Africa.
• CinetPay API Direct Direct API integration allowing developers to build custom payment gateways and integrate payment processing and money transfers into their own applications, with real-time transaction status tracking via webhooks. Compatible with PHP, Python, and JavaScript frameworks. PCI-DSS certified. Targeted at developers, e-commerce platforms, fintechs, and enterprise technical teams.
• CinetPay White Label White-label payment solution enabling enterprise partners to accept mobile money, card, and wallet payments under their own brand with dedicated back-office, reporting APIs, integration support, and 4 preventive maintenance sessions. Targeted at telecom operators, financial institutions, and large enterprises that aggregate sub-merchants.
• CinetPay E-Shop Free online store creation solution enabling entrepreneurs and small businesses to create online stores and accept mobile money and card payments without technical integration. Targeted at SMBs and individual merchants seeking no-code e-commerce enablement.
• CinetPay Facturation

Quantifiable outcome

• Reduces operational costs by up to 50% for customers (per Ministry of Higher Education testimonial)
• +8 more outcomes

Named customers17 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration12 records

AI capability2 records

Feature8 records

Partnerships

Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Orange MoneycoreTechnology or IntegrationOrange Money (Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, DRC) integrated as a payment method on the CinetPay platform, enabling customers to pay and merchants to receive funds via Orange Money mobile wallets.
• MTN MoneycoreTechnology or IntegrationMTN Money (Côte d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Benin) integrated as a payment method, allowing CinetPay merchants to accept payments and process payouts via MTN mobile money.
• Moov MoneycoreTechnology or IntegrationMoov Money (Mali, Burkina Faso, Benin, Togo, Côte d'Ivoire) integrated as a payment method, providing CinetPay merchants with access to the Moov digital wallet ecosystem across multiple countries.
• WavecoreTechnology or IntegrationWave (Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal) integrated as a payment method, offering CinetPay merchants access to Wave's mobile money services in West African markets.
• TMoneycoreTechnology or IntegrationTMoney (Togo) integrated as a payment method, enabling CinetPay merchants in Togo to accept TMoney wallet payments and process disbursements.
• MPesacoreTechnology or IntegrationMPesa (DRC) integrated as a payment method on the CinetPay platform, extending CinetPay's mobile money coverage to DRC through Safaricom's MPesa service.
• VisacoreTechnology or IntegrationVisa card payments integrated on the CinetPay platform across all operating countries, enabling merchants to accept international card payments alongside local mobile money methods.
• MastercardcoreTechnology or IntegrationMastercard card payments integrated on the CinetPay platform across all operating countries, enabling international card acceptance for CinetPay merchants.
• Airtel MoneycoreTechnology or IntegrationAirtel Money (Niger, Guinea, DRC) integrated as a payment method, providing CinetPay merchants with Airtel mobile money coverage in these markets.
• Free MoneycoreTechnology or IntegrationFree Money (Senegal) integrated as a payment method on the CinetPay platform, extending coverage to Free's mobile money users in Senegal.
• Express UnioncoreTechnology or IntegrationExpress Union Cameroon integrated as a payment method, enabling CinetPay merchants in Cameroon to accept Express Union mobile money payments.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves9 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Paystack: Nigerian payment gateway (Stripe-owned) providing developer-first payment APIs for African merchants. Closely comparable API-first business model targeting African online merchants, though primarily Anglophone-focused.
• DPO Group: Pan-African payment gateway and merchant services provider operating across multiple African markets. Offers comparable online payment acceptance and mobile money aggregation for African merchants.
• Cellulant: Pan-African digital payments platform with strong mobile money aggregation across multiple countries. Comparable focus on connecting merchants to diverse African payment methods at scale.
• MFS Africa (Onafriq): Cross-border mobile money payment hub connecting mobile wallets across Africa. Comparable mobile money aggregation expertise and pan-African operator relationships, with greater cross-border focus.
• Hub2: African payment aggregator headquartered in Côte d'Ivoire serving Francophone markets. Direct comparable in the same geographic and product niche as CinetPay, with overlapping mobile money integrations.
• FedaPay: Beninese payment aggregator focused on mobile money payments for West African merchants. Direct comparable in business model and regional footprint, though smaller in scale than CinetPay.
• Money Fusion: Cameroon-based pan-African payment aggregator specializing in mobile money collection across multiple countries. Comparable mobile money aggregation focus and similar Francophone/West-Central Africa market overlap.
• Flutterwave: Pan-African payment processor offering merchant aggregation across 30+ countries with card and mobile money support. Directly comparable to CinetPay's aggregation model and is both a co-investor and competitor, making it the most strategically relevant peer.

Broad incumbents

• Interswitch: Largest Nigerian payment processor with broader portfolio spanning card issuing, switching, and merchant acquiring across Africa. Broader incumbent in African payments with overlapping capabilities but wider scope than CinetPay's aggregator focus.

Regional players

• Peach Payments: South African payment gateway with pan-African expansion ambitions. Comparable merchant payment aggregation model but primarily South African market focus rather than Francophone Africa.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks1 record

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/10789245
• Xx.com/cinetpay
• Facebookfacebook.com/cinetpay

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Subsidiaries8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds4 records

Investors7 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about CINETPAY