Happy Pay, a South African buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) startup, has raised a $5 million seed round to scale what it describes as Africa’s first ad-supported payments network.
The funding will be used to deepen merchant partnerships, expand distribution across online and offline channels, and further develop its AI-powered recommendations and advertising engine.
Partech led the round, with participation from Futuregrowth Asset Management, 4Di Capital, E4E Africa, Equitable Ventures, and Felix Strategic Investments.
“Our mission is simple, to make cash-flow management free for consumers,” said Wesley Billett, co-founder and CEO of Happy Pay. “If we can connect the right product to the right person at the right moment and remove payment friction, commerce itself can fund the flexibility.”
South Africa’s BNPL market is expanding quickly, with adoption spreading across retail and e-commerce. A Stitch digital payments survey found that 56.5% of South Africans have used BNPL for online purchases, while 41.1% have used it for travel bookings, pointing to broad familiarity with the model. Transaction values are also rising, reaching an estimated $815 million in 2025, up from roughly $717 million in 2024.
