UK fintech Unlimit makes its second African expansion, acquires Kenyan PSP licence

Two months after UK fintech Unlimit announced the acquisition of a Payment Solution Service Provider (PSSP) licence from the Central Bank of Nigeria, the company has received a similar licence from the Central Bank of Kenya.

"It gives me great pleasure to bring on board Kenya as our second African country, following the recent announcement of the awarding of our Nigerian license," says Trevor Goott, Director for Africa and India at Unlimit.

According to Goott, the high demand from its international merchants to establish local operations in Kenya motivated them to enter market. "Also, given its strategic location in East Africa, Kenya serves as an ideal hub for the expansion of our operations in the region," he added.

In last 15 years, Kenya has emerged as a leading force in the African payment ecosystem, gaining global recognition for its ground-breaking mobile money revolution. This innovation has not only propelled Kenya's economy forward but has also facilitated business expansion for numerous companies.

Leveraging mobile payment technology, Kenya has created a robust payment infrastructure that presents promising opportunities for domestic and foreign enterprises seeking to establish a presence there. By expanding its operations to Kenya, Unlimit wants to strengthen its position in the continent's payment landscape as part of its mission to lead Africa's payment evolution in the coming years.

As part of this expansion, Unlimit says it will deliver an unparalleled payment experience by integrating internationally acclaimed payment best practices, industry-leading security protocols, comprehensive merchant analytics, and a customer-friendly interface.

According to Unlimit's CEO, Kirill Evstratov, "we have ambitious plans for Kenya and East Africa, and are looking forward to supporting local businesses on their expansion goals. For 14 years we have successfully been aiding companies worldwide to enter new markets and go beond borders, strengthening their business outreach and expanding their customer base.

"Now, we are bringing those years of expertise to Africa. Our unwavering ambition is to establish ourselves as the benchmark in the payments processing industry, setting the standard for excellence and innovation, and allowing companies around the globe to go borderless with their payments," he added.

By offering diverse payment solutions, Unlimit will cater to the preferences and support the unique requirements of local enterprises in Kenya. This milestone demonstrates Unlimit's dedication to advancing the payment landscape in Africa and empowering businesses with cutting-edge payment solutions.

Speaking on its competitive advantage in the African market, Goott said that most foreign fintech firms operating in Africa use a local payment aggregator and operate under that aggregator's technology and licensc. However, Unlimit elimnates the middleman approach to acquire its licenses.

"Using a middleman creates two challenges; your end-to-end transaction processing is now dependent on a 3rd party and there is an extra cost added for using the “middleman” service," says Goott.

"Unlimint's competitive advantage is that we operate directly with our local payment method providers, and under our own license. In this way, not only do we remain in control of our technology which ensures better uptime and transaction conversion rates, but it also ensures we can provide the lowest possible operating cost to our merchants, which in turn allows them to be more price competitive and sensitive, which in turn helps them to grow as a business."

The 'N' changes everything: Rebranding from Unlimint to Unlimit

Last month, the UK fintech changed its name from Unlimint to Unlimit. According to a statement seen by Bendada.com, the brand intends to reflect the company's new positioning, unify its product line, and highlight its mission to eliminate financial borders, enabling businesses to operate both locally and internationally with ease across Europe, the UK, LatAm, APAC, and Africa.

Unlimit was initially launched in 2009 with a focus on payment processing services. However, in its 14 years of existence, the company has never stopped expanding its capabilities and product offering, constantly implementing new solutions that answered the everchanging demand of the market.

Today the company boasts one of the largest in-house developed payment infrastructures in the world, consisting of various financial services like payment processing, banking as a service (BaaS), and an on-ramp fiat solution for crypto, DeFi, and GameFi.

The new name is a strategic step in the company’s goal to unify its products and amplify its brand on a global spectrum. The company’s BaaS solution will now be called Unlimit BaaS, while the on- and off-ramp solution for Web 3, GateFi, will be renamed to Unlimit Crypto. It will also come with a new website and slogan of “borderless payments”.

The fintech is evolving alongside the industry to deliver new solutions that meet ever-changing users’ needs and the new website reflects this by providing a holistic view of the company’s offerings with an interactive map and descriptions of payment methods per region to empower businesses across the globe to make educated decisions about their expansion plans.