South Africa’s Peach Payments Acquires Operativa

South African digital payments provider, Peach Payments, has acquired the customer software development firm Operativa. This marks Peach Payments’ first acquisition since closing a US$31 million funding round led by the Apis Growth Fund II last year.

The acquisition will integrate the full Operativa team into Peach Payments, with Operativa co-founders Dayne Olivier and Ben Janecke assuming Principal Engineer positions. Founded in Cape Town in 2012, Peach Payments offers a comprehensive toolkit to help businesses accept, manage, and disburse payments through web and mobile platforms. It is the second-largest online payment gateway in South Africa and has expanded to Kenya and Mauritius.

“Operativa has been a trusted partner since the very beginning of our relationship, so the opportunity to acquire the business was not only a strategic business decision but felt like a natural next step,” said Rahul Jain, CEO and co-founder of Peach Payments.

Since 2022, Operativa has collaborated with Peach Payments, building and maintaining various payment systems and solutions that have facilitated Peach Payments’ rapid expansion, including integrating additional payment methods like Apple Pay and onboarding new merchants and banking partners.

“The additional capital raised from the Apis Growth Fund II is allowing us to execute faster as we build new products and expand across Africa. Operativa has the people, skills, and intricate knowledge that comes from having worked with us on developing our systems, allowing us to hit the ground running together on some really exciting new projects,” Jain added.

Operativa has served clients in the financial services, information security, e-commerce, and cloud hosting industries. Following the acquisition, it will hand over operations for its other clients to ensure business continuity.

Speaking on the acquisition, Dayne Olivier, co-founder at Operativa who will be a Principal Engineer at Peach Payments, said that Operativa has always enjoyed working with Peach Payments.

“We believe that the business has what it takes to become the undisputed payments leader in Africa. We see this acquisition as a call-up to the winning team,” said Olivier.

The other co-founder, Ben Janecke noted that the decision to sell the business was influenced by multiple factors, including their strong relationship with Peach Payments, its future plans, and current market conditions.

“We were able to build something really special with Operativa. We made significant strides working with Peach Payments as our partner, and we are confident that as an integrated business, we’ll be able to achieve even more,” Janecke stated.

“The pair and their team have been instrumental in building the technical architecture that has paved the way for Peach Payments’ rapid expansion, including integrating additional payment methods such as Apple Pay and onboarding new merchants and banking partners,” Peach Payments said in a statement.

The acquisition, announced on Monday, is expected to be completed by August, consolidating Operativa’s expertise into Peach Payments.