What kaki does

Kaki (legally Kaki Tech-Lab, trading as Kaki Africa) is a Ghanaian fintech founded around 2021–2022 that provides payment acceptance tools for small merchants and mobile service providers, primarily through SoftPOS technology that converts a smartphone into a contactless card reader without dedicated hardware. The company's flagship offering, Kaki Sleek Payments (KSP), supports acceptance of international schemes — VISA, MasterCard, UnionPay — alongside Mobile Money, QR codes, virtual cards, and shareable payment links. Around this core, Kaki has assembled a broad product surface: an E-Wallet module (bill payments, savings, loyalty, cross-border transfers, expense tracking), a unified payment gateway with single-API multi-scheme access, and POS add-ons including physical terminals, e-commerce checkout, payment kiosks, cloud fiscalization, and inventory management, all governed by a merchant dashboard for real-time sales reporting.

The target customer base is deliberately long-tail: small retail shops, taxi drivers, couriers, insurance/travel/trade agents, and online store owners — primarily in Ghana, with stated pan-African ambition. Distribution is product-led and self-serve via a mobile app on iOS and Android, supplemented by a whitelist-based pre-launch acquisition funnel and organic social media presence. Kaki's revenue model is exclusively transaction-fee based with zero monthly cost to merchants and zero-cost integration, supported by partnerships with VISA, MasterCard, Western Union, and UnionPay, and self-attested PCI DSS and EMV Level 1 & 2 certification.

Operationally, Kaki is a founder-led, unfunded private company with a team of approximately ten members (CEO Jamal, CTO Francis, COO/Legal Irada, plus BDM, Lead Developer, Compliance, Customer Success, Tech-Support, and UI/UX) headquartered at 15 James Aflo CR, Accra-Haatso, Ghana. No external capital, no disclosed revenue, no merchant count, and no enterprise customer base are reported; the website indicates the mobile app remains in a "coming soon" / whitelist phase, suggesting the business is at an early pre-commercialization or pilot stage.

Name

kaki

Legal name

Kaki Tech-Lab

Website

https://kakiafrica.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2022

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Kaki Africa is a Ghanaian fintech providing SoftPOS-based payment acceptance — tap-to-pay, QR, virtual cards, and payment links — to small merchants, taxi drivers, couriers, and online stores in Ghana and across Africa, on a zero-monthly-fee, pay-per-transaction model.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Accra

HQ country

Ghana

HQ region

Africa

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Transaction Fees: Revenue generated through transaction fees on payments processed via the platform. Zero monthly cost to merchants - they pay per transaction processed.
2. Payment Processing: Income from processing payments across multiple schemes (VISA, MasterCard, Mobile Money, QR, payment links) for merchants.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Kaki provides a mobile-based payment acceptance platform branded Kaki Sleek Payments (KSP), enabling merchants to accept VISA, MasterCard, UnionPay, Mobile Money, QR and payment-link transactions through a smartphone or app without dedicated POS hardware. The offering combines SoftPOS, a unified payment gateway with one API across schemes, an E-Wallet with bill payments, savings, loyalty, cross-border transfers and expense tracking, and a merchant dashboard with real-time sales reports. Pricing is pay-as-you-go per transaction with no monthly fees or upfront integration cost, targeting small merchants, couriers, taxi drivers and online stores in Ghana.

Product overview

Kaki Africa operates as a unified payments platform under the Kaki Sleek Payments (KSP) brand, providing a comprehensive ecosystem of payment acceptance solutions. The core offering centers on SoftPOS technology that transforms smartphones into card readers via a mobile application, eliminating the need for dedicated hardware. This core is augmented by multiple integrated modules including an E-Wallet (with bill payments, savings, loyalty programs, cross-border transfers, and expense tracking), a Payment Gateway with unified API access to multiple schemes, and a suite of POS solutions covering physical terminals, e-commerce, kiosks, cloud fiscalization, and inventory management. The platform supports acceptance of international payment networks (Visa, MasterCard, UnionPay) and mobile money, with a merchant dashboard providing real-time analytics and sales reporting.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Kaki Sleek Payments (KSP) Flagship paytech product of Kaki enabling merchants to accept bank card payments (VISA, MasterCard) and Mobile Money anywhere using a smartphone or app as a card reader, with no additional hardware required.
• SoftPOS Software-based point-of-sale solution that transforms a smartphone or app into a card reader, supporting tap-to-pay functionality to accept VISA, MasterCard, UnionPay and Mobile Money payments without dedicated hardware.
• E-Wallet Digital wallet offering bill payments, savings account, loyalty programs, cross-border payments, instant money transfers, and budgeting and expense tracking for merchants and users.
• Payment Gateway Unified API-based payment processing solution supporting multiple payment schemes (VISA, MasterCard, UnionPay, QR, payment links, Mobile Money) with competitive transaction fees and zero monthly cost.
• Merchant Dashboard Centralized merchant control interface providing real-time sales reports, transaction monitoring, and business analytics for merchants using Kaki payment products.

Named customers5 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• VISAcoreTechnology or IntegrationPayment scheme partnership enabling acceptance of VISA bank cards through Kaki's SoftPOS, mobile terminal, and payment gateway solutions.
• MasterCardcoreTechnology or IntegrationPayment scheme partnership enabling acceptance of MasterCard bank cards through Kaki's SoftPOS, mobile terminal, and payment gateway solutions.
• Western UnioncoreTechnology or IntegrationInternational money transfer partnership enabling cross-border payment capabilities and instant money transfers through Kaki's platform.
• UnionPaycoreTechnology or IntegrationPayment scheme partnership enabling acceptance of UnionPay cards through Kaki's SoftPOS and payment gateway solutions.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Flutterwave: Pan-African payment processor and gateway serving merchants across multiple African countries with card and mobile money acceptance. Direct competitor in the same product category and SMB target market that Kaki serves.
• Paystack: Nigerian-founded African payment gateway (acquired by Stripe) enabling online and in-person card acceptance for businesses. Closely comparable in product, customer base, and gateway/multi-scheme model.
• Block (Square): Pioneered the original Square SoftPOS concept turning smartphones into card readers with no monthly fee, pay-per-transaction pricing. Direct functional analogue to Kaki's core SoftPOS product.
• Chipper Cash: African cross-border payments app enabling money transfer across African countries; Kaki's Western Union-powered cross-border capability addresses a similar use case for the same diaspora and merchant base.
• DPO Group (DPO Pay / PayGate): African payment service provider offering card processing, mobile money, and gateway services to merchants across multiple African markets, with similar multi-scheme aggregation.

Broad incumbents

• Interswitch: Largest African payments ecosystem with Verve scheme, gateway, POS terminals, and consumer wallets. Competes broadly across the same merchant payment-acceptance surface.
• MTN Group (MoMo / MTN Mobile Money): Dominant African mobile money operator (especially in Ghana via MTN Ghana) with millions of users and merchant acceptance. Both a potential partner and a major competitive force in the same payment-acceptance category.
• Stripe: Global payments leader that acquired Paystack and is expanding into Africa; competes broadly in payment gateway and developer-first payment processing with the same SMB/mid-market merchant focus.

Emerging players

• myPOS: European SoftPOS and POS solution provider offering smartphone card-reader technology with a similar zero-hardware value proposition; comparable technology stack though different geographic focus.

Others

• Visa Direct / Mastercard Send: Card-network operator push-payment and cross-border rails. Although not a direct competitor to Kaki, these schemes are both partners and potential disintermediators that could compete via direct merchant relationships.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/kakiafrica
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/kakiafrica
• Instagraminstagram.com/kakiafrica.hq?igshid=ZDc4ODBmNjlmNQ==

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles10 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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 kaki