South Africa-based payments infrastructure company Stitch today announced expansion to become an end-to-end Payments Service Provider (or PSP, defined as a third party that enables businesses to accept, manage and send digital payments through a variety of methods). This comes off the back of new solutions including pay-ins via Card and Debit Order, and payments orchestration and reconciliation system, PayOS. 

The Stitch payments suite is designed specifically for businesses with complex payments needs, offering flexibility and customisation.

Stitch launched its first pay-in method, Instant EFT, in late 2021. They moved from a single-method provider toward a multi-method offering with the launch of Direct Deposit in November 2022, and CashPay in February 2023, in addition to Payouts. With the latest launches, Stitch has become a full-service PSP. The evolution was in large part a response to requests received from existing clients to help solve more of their payments needs. 

Through a single API integration, today Stitch clients can:

• accept payments via Instant EFT, Debit + Credit Card, Direct Deposit, Debit Order and Cash; 

• track, manage and reconcile payments received across multiple methods, providers and geographies via PayOS; 

• and easily disburse funds via Payouts  

“We’re really excited to fully serve our clients end-to-end, and meet more of their payments needs,” said Stitch President Junaid Dadan. “We operate as a client-first business and have found that clients see us as a thought partner in the way they run their payments environments. Over time they’ve started asking us to support them with more solutions. This progression is in response to that demand, and an effort to fill gaps we see in the market across the payments stack.” 

Speaking to PayOS in particular, he added, “PayOS is the first solution of its kind in the market. It was created to give clients even more freedom in terms of how they manage their payments. PayOS enables clients to integrate directly into multiple PSPs and manage payments across methods and providers, with the flexibility to maintain existing commercial agreements. These direct integrations allow us to aggregate and standardise data from across providers into a single source of truth that can improve the efficiency of finance and payments teams. Importantly, PayOS also works across geographies.”

Stitch stands out due to its bespoke and hands-on approach to client support, as well as direct integrations with multiple banks, acquirers and networks, which improves reliability and uptime, and enables the team to resolve issues faster.

“I had a great sense of comfort when working with the Stitch team, knowing they fully support our vision and our obsession with checkout experiences across our different channels,” said Sipho Tshabalala, Product Manager Online Platforms, MTN.

More on Stitch Card:

Stitch offers a scalable, reliable Debit + Credit Card solution with:

• The ability for clients to own their own network tokens

Stitch is the first payments provider in South Africa to allow clients to own their customer network tokens, meaning they can choose to move processors seamlessly, without getting locked in

• Reduced risk of failed payments 

Stitch can automatically update expired or lost cards for customers

• A digitised chargeback system

Clients can view, respond to and manage chargebacks digitally via their dashboard, replacing previously manual and expensive processes

More on Stitch Debit Order:

Stitch enables clients to accept Debit Orders or Debicheck payments with: 

• A better user experience
  Thanks to pre-built, optimised flows hosted by Stitch

• Optimised collections + smart routing
  Clients can view user account balances to know the best dates to collect. Debit Order can also be combined with tokenised card or bank accounts for a seamless collection process by collecting from a particular user via the method that works for them 

• Reduced fraud with built-in account holder verification

More on PayOS:

PayOS is a SaaS solution designed to help clients better manage complex payments, with:

• No need to ditch existing provider relationships

Stitch will allow clients to maintain their existing contracts, accommodating for complex, multi-provider environments 

• Direct integrations with banks and providers

Stitch gathers data from these sources first-party and provides it to clients for reconciliation and reporting in a standardised format

• Functionality across geographies

More on Payouts

Stitch Payouts allows clients to enable refunds and withdrawals, and disburse funds over API:

• Initiate payments in real-time over API
  on a per-transaction basis or in bulk. Clients can also track payments with status checks via webhook or query 

• Stitch-managed float
  Clients can transfer funds to Stitch as float, and they will monitor and track the balance against payout requests

• Reduced fraud and guarantee payments
  Stitch guarantees payouts are settled into customers’ verified accounts, mitigating failed payments and fraud

For existing Stitch clients, additional development work required to enable these new solutions is minimal. For new Stitch customers, all payment methods can easily be combined via a single integration, and managed via PayOS. Anyone interested can get in touch via stitch.money.