Paytota
Paytota is a Uganda-founded fintech that operates a universal mobile payment gateway aggregating 100+ PSPs to enable businesses to accept and disburse payments across Africa and Europe via mobile money, cards, and digital wallets, serving e-commerce, insurance, travel, agriculture, and utility verticals.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2020
- HeadquartersKampala, Uganda
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Paytota does
Paytota is a private fintech company founded in 2020 in Kampala, Uganda, that operates a universal mobile payment gateway aggregating 100+ Payment Service Providers for cross-border commerce across Africa and Europe. The platform exposes a RESTful API and SDKs (PHP, Node.js, Python) at gate.paytota.com, enabling businesses to accept and disburse payments via mobile money operators (MTN, Airtel, Mpesa, Telebirr, Econet, Telecel), card networks (Visa, MasterCard), and digital wallets (Apple Pay) across multiple African currencies. On top of the core gateway, Paytota offers five vertical-branded product solutions (PayNow for general payments, PaySure for insurance, PayTravel for travel, PayFarm for agriculture, and PayBill for utilities), a white-label licensing model, a Fintech-as-a-Service platform, and modular features including Split Payments, Intelligent Routing, and KarmaPlus AI-powered fraud detection. Chat Payments, launched in 2024, extends the platform into conversational commerce across WhatsApp, Messenger, and WeChat.
The company generates revenue primarily through transaction-based fees: 2.8% on mobile money collections, $0.25 per mobile money disbursement, and $4 per card transaction, with custom multi-year enterprise contracts available for larger clients. There are no setup or monthly fees, and the platform operates on a pay-as-you-go basis for standard tiers. Distribution combines an API-first self-serve approach (developer documentation at docs.paytota.com, e-commerce plugins, mobile apps) with enterprise field sales ([email protected]) and a white-label OEM channel targeting SME players across Africa. Paytota holds a Payment Systems Operator license from the Bank of Uganda (granted in 2022), is PCI DSS compliant, and operates regional offices in Lagos, Nigeria and London, United Kingdom, in addition to its Kampala headquarters. The company remains early-stage by headcount (1-10 employees), founder-controlled, and bootstrapped with no disclosed institutional funding rounds.
Paytota firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Paytota
- Legal name
- PAYTOTA LIMITED
- Website
- https://paytota.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2020
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Paytota is a Uganda-founded fintech that operates a universal mobile payment gateway aggregating 100+ PSPs to enable businesses to accept and disburse payments across Africa and Europe via mobile money, cards, and digital wallets, serving e-commerce, insurance, travel, agriculture, and utility verticals.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Paytota industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Payment Gateway
- NAICS
- Financial Transactions Processing, Reserve, and Clearinghouse Activities (522320), Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (5182)
- SIC
- Finance Services (6199), Miscellaneous Business Credit Institution (6159)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Merchant-of-Record (MoR) & Payment Facilitation (PayFac) Infrastructure (FSAGABAE)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Payouts, Disbursements & Mass Payments Infrastructure (FSAGABAN), Alternative Payment Methods (APM) Enablement (Wallets, A2A, Local Rails) (FSAGABAJ), Embedded Payments (Pay-ins, Pay-outs, Wallets) (FSAGALAB)
Keywords
Where Paytota is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Kampala
- HQ country
- Uganda
- HQ region
- Africa
Offices3 records
Markets served
Paytota business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Transaction Fees - Collections: Percentage-based fee on mobile money and payment collections; charged per transaction with no setup or monthly fees
- Transaction Fees - Disbursements: Fixed $0.25 per transaction for mobile money bulk disbursements including remittance, farmer payments, and salaries
- Card Processing: $4 per transaction flat fee for VISA and MasterCard processing including local and international cards
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Transaction based/ take rate | Pay-as-you-go | Mobile Money Collections at 2.8% per transaction |
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Disbursements at $0.25 per transaction |
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Card Processing at $4 per transaction |
| Hybrid | Multi-year contract | Custom Enterprise Pricing |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels3 records
Paytota product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Paytota operates a universal mobile payment gateway platform that aggregates 100+ Payment Service Providers (PSPs) to enable businesses across Africa and Europe to accept and send digital payments. The platform supports mobile money (Airtel, MTN, Mpesa, Telebirr, Econet, Telecel), card networks (Visa, MasterCard), and digital wallets (Apple Pay) with features including intelligent routing, split payments, multi-currency processing, and AI-powered fraud management. It is offered as a white-label fintech-as-a-service platform with vertical-specific solutions for e-commerce, insurance, travel, agriculture, and bill payment use cases.
Product overview
Paytota is a universal mobile payment company offering a modular fintech-as-a-service platform for online and cross-border payments across Africa and Europe. The core product portfolio comprises five named vertical solutions (PayNow, PaySure, PayTravel, PayFarm, PayBill) plus a white-label platform, all built on a unified API layer. Key platform features include Split Payments, Intelligent Routing, Risk Management/KarmaPlus, Multi-Currency support, and a Loyalty Programme module. The platform connects to 100+ payment service providers and supports mobile money operators (Airtel, MTN, Mpesa, Telebirr, Econet, Telecel), card networks (Visa, MasterCard), and digital wallets (Apple Pay) across multiple African markets.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- PayNow: All-in-one payment solution for mobile and web.
- PaySure
- PayTravel
- PayFarm
- PayBill
- KarmaPlus
Products and services
- PayNow All-in-one mobile and web payment solution enabling businesses and consumers to send and receive payments digitally, supporting multiple payment methods across Africa and Europe.
- PaySure
Companies that use Paytota
Customer profileSegments7 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Paytota technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration12 records
AI capability2 records
Feature6 records
Paytota partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
One partnership is on record.
- 100+ Payment Service ProviderscorePartnership network of 100+ Payment Service Providers enabling support for any currency, payment method, and payment flow across African markets and 100+ countries
Scale indicators3 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Paytota competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Dusupay: Africa-focused payment gateway and aggregator providing mobile money collections, payouts, and card processing for merchants expanding into African markets, a close analog to Paytota's PSP-aggregation model.
- Paystack (Stripe-owned): Africa-focused online payment gateway (now owned by Stripe) providing collections, payouts, and developer APIs to African merchants, directly competing with Paytota's core PayNow/checkout proposition.
- Cellulant: Pan-African digital payments platform providing payment gateway, collections, disbursements, and Tingg mobile money across multiple African countries, competing for the same merchant and fintech customers.
- Flutterwave: Pan-African payment gateway and aggregator offering cross-border collections, payouts, and multi-currency processing across many of the same African markets Paytota serves, with a much larger funding base and enterprise footprint.
- Chipper Cash: Cross-border payments platform with strong presence in Africa, offering mobile money collections, payouts, and remittance flows that overlap with Paytota's disbursement and cross-border corridors.
- DPO Group (Network International): Pan-African online payment gateway offering cards, mobile money, and bank payment acceptance across multiple African countries, serving the same cross-border merchant base as Paytota.
- Onafriq (formerly MFS Africa): Cross-border mobile money and digital payments hub connecting 500+ mobile wallets across Africa, overlapping directly with Paytota's mobile money aggregation and disbursement offering.
Regional players
- Paga: Nigeria-focused mobile money and payment platform that aggregates mobile money and bank channels with developer APIs, comparable to Paytota's mobile money aggregation model but regionally focused.
Broad incumbents
- Stripe: Global payments infrastructure provider with expanding African footprint (via Paystack) and card processing in 100+ countries; competes for the same cross-border, multi-currency, developer-led merchants Paytota targets.
- Interswitch: Large Nigerian-founded African digital payments and commerce company offering gateway, processing, and switching services across many of the same countries, with significantly broader scale and product breadth.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Paytota social profiles
Digital presencePaytota compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance2 records
Paytota financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Paytota leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles7 records
Paytota funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Paytota 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 Paytota
What does Paytota do?
Paytota operates a universal mobile payment gateway platform that aggregates 100+ Payment Service Providers (PSPs) to enable businesses across Africa and Europe to accept and send digital payments. The platform supports mobile money (Airtel, MTN, Mpesa, Telebirr, Econet, Telecel), card networks (Visa, MasterCard), and digital wallets (Apple Pay) with features including intelligent routing, split payments, multi-currency processing, and AI-powered fraud management. It is offered as a white-label fintech-as-a-service platform with vertical-specific solutions for e-commerce, insurance, travel, agriculture, and bill payment use cases.
Is Paytota a public or private company?
Paytota is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Paytota founded?
Paytota was founded in 2020. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Paytota based?
Paytota is headquartered in Kampala, Uganda, in the Africa region.
How does Paytota make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Transaction Fees - Collections are the primary driver. The others are transaction Fees - Disbursements and card Processing.
Who are Paytota's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Dusupay, Paystack (Stripe-owned), Cellulant, Flutterwave, Chipper Cash, DPO Group (Network International) and Onafriq (formerly MFS Africa). Paga is listed as a regional player. Broad incumbents are Stripe and Interswitch.
Does Paytota have an API?
Yes. Paytota offers a RESTful API and SDK accessible via https://gate.paytota.com/ for payment processing, disbursements, mobile money, and card collections. Authentication uses Bearer token (secret key) passed in the Authorization header. The API supports webhook callbacks for transaction events, USSD integration (shortcode-based with session management, START/CONTINUE/END states, RSA PKCS#1 v1.5 signed payloads), mobile money (STK Push, collections/payouts) across Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Zimbabwe, card collections via redirect or direct-post, bank payouts in NGN and KES currencies, and company statement generation with CSV export. SDK code samples provided in PHP, Node.js, Python, and cURL. Test cards available: 4444 3333 2222 1111 (non-3DS) and 5555 5555 4444 (3DS). Developer documentation is at docs.paytota.com.
What industry is Paytota in?
Paytota's product category is Payment Gateway. Its primary akta.pro industry code is FSAGABAE, Merchant-of-Record (MoR) & Payment Facilitation (PayFac) Infrastructure, with a secondary code of FSAGABAN, Payouts, Disbursements & Mass Payments Infrastructure. Its NAICS code is 522320 and its SIC code is 6199.