South African fintech startup Float has secured a US$11 million funding facility from Standard Bank to facilitate the rollout of its card-linked installments platform, supporting its accelerated growth plans over the next four years.
Launched in November 2021, Float encourages responsible credit card usage and, at the same time, helps merchants to grow their sales. The startup’s proprietary technology lets shoppers buy now and split their payments over up to 24 interest-free, fee-free monthly installments using the available limit on their existing Visa or Mastercard credit card.
The startup already works with almost seven million pre-approved credit cards in South Africa, and there is no sign-up, registration or credit check process for consumers. It now expects to increase its well-established merchant base exponentially after securing the US$11 million debt facility from Standard Bank.
“Partnering with Standard Bank is a major milestone for our business and is a huge vote of confidence in our model, its value to the payments ecosystem, and the future prospects of our team and business. The support from Standard Bank comes at a time when we’re approaching an inflection point in our growth and will be pivotal in fueling our business as we scale,” said Float founder and CEO Alex Forsyth Thompson.
“South African credit consumers reward merchants that offer them flexible and responsible payment options with their business and their loyalty. Float gives them exactly that and the result has been a drastic increase in conversion rates and, based on a recent case study across hundreds of our merchants, a 134 per cent increase in our merchant’s average order values. We have new merchants and partnerships in the pipeline and this funding ensures that we can continue to scale for the next few years.”
The loan has been structured as a revolving credit facility, ensuring long-term security and flexibility of funding for Float, and follows a similar facility being provided to car subscription startup Planet42.
