Stitch Launches BNPL in South Africa, Targeting a $1.17 Billion Market

Stitch Launches BNPL in South Africa, Targeting a $1.17 Billion Market

Quick Reads

• Stitch launched a BNPL product for merchants, covering both online and in-store checkout.
• South Africa’s BNPL market is projected to hit $1.17 billion in 2026.
• Merchants receive full payment within 24 hours, Stitch absorbs all default risk.
• Customers stay on the merchant’s site throughout checkout, unlike rival BNPL products.
• Stitch Express merchants activate BNPL with a single dashboard toggle.

South Africa’s buy-now-pay-later market is heating up quickly. Stitch, a South African payments infrastructure company, has launched a Buy Now Pay Later product for merchants, expanding its platform to support instalment payments across both online and in-store channels. This move positions Stitch squarely in a market expected to reach $1.17 billion in value this year.

The product gives customers flexibility directly at checkout. Merchants can let customers choose repayment schedules and split purchases into two to six instalments. While customers pay over time, Stitch handles merchant settlement differently. Stitch pays merchants the full purchase amount, minus fees, within 24 hours, removing repayment uncertainty that often slows BNPL adoption.

What distinguishes the Stitch BNPL South Africa launch is where transactions occur. According to Thea Sokolowski, Head of Marketing at Stitch, competitors redirect customers away from merchant sites to their own apps at checkout. Stitch instead keeps customers fully within the merchant’s payment flow throughout the entire process.

For merchants using Stitch Express, a checkout solution for Shopify and WooCommerce businesses, the BNPL feature activates via a simple dashboard toggle. Enterprise merchants receive more customizable implementation alongside their existing payments stack. For in-store purchases, customers scan a QR code to access the same BNPL flow.

Once customers select the feature, they complete KYC onboarding and a credit assessment within checkout. They then receive a spending limit usable across participating merchants. Stitch manages the full repayment lifecycle and absorbs all default risk, meaning merchants carry none of it.

The launch builds on a strong recent foundation for Stitch. The company raised a $55 million Series B in April 2025 and later acquired Efficacy Payments, securing direct access to South Africa’s national clearing system. The BNPL landscape already includes PayJustNow and Happy Pay, but Stitch argues its embedded infrastructure approach gives it a structural advantage over standalone players.