Ozow
Ozow, previously known as i-Pay, is a fintech company based in South Africa. The company provides online payment services for South Africans. History. Established in 2014, Ozow has headquarters in Johannesburg and Cape Town, South Africa. The company launched end of 2016. It was co-founded by Thomas Pays, Mitchan Adams and Lyle Eckstein. Ozow has developed and currently operates an online automated Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) payment gateway in South Africa. Ozow is accessible to all who have an internet banking profile and allows for instant payments across all smart mobile and desktop devices. On March 5  2020, the company broke through the R10 billion milestone in transactions processed. Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic the company experienced a huge demand for their services as more people wanted to buy their groceries online. In September 2020, during Black Friday the company processed R1 billion in transactions on the day. The single biggest transaction processed was R500 000. Investments. Kalon Venture Partners invested in the company during early funding rounds of the business. In June 2019, Ozow raised follow-on funding from Kalon Venture Partners as part of a larger Series A round. In November 2021, the company announced a  $48m Series B funding round led by Tencent. The investment round also includes Endeavor Catalyst and Endeavor Harvest Fund. Notably, Endeavor Catalyst’s investment committee approval was chaired by partner of Greylock Partners, and co-founder and former executive chairman of LinkedIn, Reid Hoffman. Services. The company offers consumers card-free services whereby they get access to their accounts using internet banking. Ozow uses a payment gateway to provide customers with payments. No registration is required and all customers need is an internet banking profile. Customers who pay through Ozow only pay the merchant. There are no other  fees. There are no charge backs on payments. Merchants receive payments directly from the customer's bank or credit accounts. Credit cards are not needed. Merchants also receive notifications of transactions. The company offers online businesses, NGO's and Non-Profit Organisations that process under R1 million in monthly transactions zero processing fees for 12 months. In September 2020 the company released Ozapp a web application that enables customers with a bank account or e-Wallet facility to transact without a card using a QR-code payment. The company also released Ozow PIN, which simplifies EFT transactions using a four -step payment process. Technology. Ozow is Thawte certified. Ozow provides a network infrastructure for online payment processing for merchants and customers. Regulatory. Ozow is registered as a Systems Operator and Third Party Payment Provider with the Payments Association of South Africa (‘’PASA’’). Ozow applies PCI DSS security standards to its automated EFT platform. In November 2018, Ozow was invited to the PASA EPC Risk Subcommittee meeting, chaired by Vinu Thomas, to discuss appropriate standards that could be enacted by PASA and the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) in order to mitigate against the risks associated with screen scraping. PASA had  identified Ozow as an automated EFT service provider with whom PASA could engage with in order to devise best practices in this regard. PASA’s view was that PCI DSS standards could be used as a base for security standards for institutions that engaged in screen scraping, with additional EFT-specific enhancements (which would be known as PCI DSS+).