Petl Pay

Why we're investing in South Africa. With a $400B+ economy, 85% of adults banked, $159B+ in digital payments per year, and e-commerce growing 20%+ annually, South Africa is the most industrialised large economy in Africa - with the systems, talent, and depth to build companies that scale. That's why we've been investing here for years: Community Wolf - building the next generation of tech infrastructure for South Africa's security industry. Photon Data - helping companies unlock insights from fragmented, siloed data. Thola Energy - building the decision layer for off-grid energy infrastructure. Petl Pay - the fintech and payroll layer for distributed teams. Over the last year, South Africa has hit a turning point. SA received its first credit rating upgrade in 20 years when S&P Global lifted it from BB- to BB, and local currency debt moved up to BB+. The drivers: higher fiscal revenue, structural reforms, and real signs that government debt is stabilising. An even more compelling region to invest in. Baobab Network is long South Africa, and we're excited for what's ahead. 🇿🇦

This is why we embedded USDC stables into all Petl Pay projects, invoices, and workflows first. Now rolling Open Banking into production for UK/EU-wide bank-to-bank payments, also ~instant. If you operate with contractors across the US, LatAm, UK, EU, and South Africa, Petl is an obvious choice. #fintech #embeddedfinance #hrtech

Last week, we attended GITEX AFRICA in Marrakech, the final day of our Visa Africa Fintech Accelerator, co-hosted by Plug and Play Tech Center, to present what we're building at Petl. From pre-funded startups attacking niche verticals to the world's largest incumbents across software and hardware, we were blown away by the size and diversity of GITEX. We even met the next generation of blue-collar workers...🤖 We left feeling even more bullish about our niche within #fintech and the #futureofwork. The shift from payroll to payments is structural, not a trend. Petl is the workflow & payments orchestration layer for contract and project-based workers. We automate payments and payouts for general contractors and agency owners across flexible teams of subcontractors and freelancers, leveraging a combination of open banking, stablecoins, and embedded automation, so compliance, invoicing, & tax happen instantly.

Why we're investing in South Africa. We're excited to be back in SA next week, catching up with portfolio companies, Baobab shareholders, and friends. Here's why we believe this remains one of the most compelling emerging markets in the world: $400B+ GDP - the most industrialised large economy in Africa 85% of adults banked - a mature financial system enabling fintech and credit at scale $159B+ in annual digital payments - one of the largest fintech markets in Africa 20%+ annual e-commerce growth - unlocking logistics, payments and marketplace opportunities SA's infrastructure is the most advanced in Africa - with mature financial, logistics and digital systems We’ve been investing here for years: Community Wolf are building the next generation of tech infrastructure for South Africa’s security industry. Photon Data are helping companies unlock insights from fragmented, siloed data. THOLA are building the decision layer for off-grid energy infrastructure. Petl Pay are building the fintech and payroll layer for distributed teams. And our 2024 acquisition of Reflector has been a game changer for our business. Baobab Network is long South Africa. Excited for what the future holds! 🇿🇦

We're in Marrakesh this week for GITEX AFRICA, presenting what we're up to at Petl Pay on the 10X Stage tomorrow afternoon as part of the Visa Africa Fintech Accelerator. Please pull in if you'd like to connect and chat about what we do. Plug and Play Africa #fintech #gitex Nicholas Boswell

Get paid by clients in the US and Europe directly into your project account with embedded payment links inside all invoices and workflows. Then pay everyone out, contractors, agents, suppliers, teams, instantly across open banking rails, USDC stablecoin, & local fiat into South Africa, LatAm, and across the UK/EU. Fast, affordable, purpose-built for project-based teams. #FutureOfWork #FinTech #HRTech

The data from payroll records, job postings, university enrolment, and AI adoption curves seemingly tells a coherent story that is still being underreported. But there are two sides to every story. #futureofwork #trends #whitecollar #bluecollar

I’m #hiring, looking for another AI integrations engineer who has shipped MCP servers or Custom GPT integrations. Individuals only, no agencies. DM me 🙌

Following on from yesterday's YC post, here's what Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) has said they're excited about for 2026. Last week, I also shared a tweet from a GP at Andreessen Horowitz on his prediction around the payments market and the relevance to what we're building at Petl Pay 👉 https://lnkd.in/dHvvf-P4 Things that stand out for me: #10 Vertical AI coordinating multiple stakeholders: For example, one client, multiple contributors, one workflow. That's our exact architecture. #14 Multi-agent orchestration platforms: Agents are becoming autonomous contributors to projects. They need their own KYC, billing, invoicing, and payment flows. #35 Identity systems for autonomous agents - agents need to be verified, onboarded, and paid. That's the contributor model. #36 Stablecoin on- and off-ramps tied to real payments. Honourable mention: #40. #FinTech #AgenticCommerce #EmbeddedFinance