Today on The Merchant Desk, we're tracking two major launches in the African market. Naspers is making a serious play for the SME space with a free, no-code AI platform, while Revolut's impending South Africa launch heats up the digital banking battle. We're also covering how the AI cost crunch is forcing a complete rethink of SaaS business models, alongside a crucial legal test for agentic commerce.
Naspers' international unit, Prosus, has launched ToqanClaw, a free AI platform that allows South African businesses to create apps and automate workflows using natural language without any coding. The platform is powered by Prosus's proprietary 'Large Commerce Model' (LCM), trained on its extensive global e-commerce and classifieds data. Alongside the business tool, Prosus also launched Zapia, a consumer AI assistant which has reportedly gained 6 million users via WhatsApp integration in Latin America.
Why it matters
This is a significant strategic move from Naspers/Prosus, shifting from a passive tech investor to an active AI platform operator in its own backyard. By offering a free, no-code tool specifically for SMEs, it directly addresses the high barriers to AI adoption in the African market. For you, this is a major development in local merchant tech, potentially creating both a powerful new distribution channel and a formidable competitor offering AI-powered business tools to the same merchants targeted by Yoco and other players. The quality of its LCM, trained on commerce-specific data, could give it a serious edge over general-purpose models.
The rise of autonomous AI agents is forcing a fundamental shift in enterprise software business models, moving them away from traditional per-seat licensing and 'time-and-materials' billing. According to a new analysis on Wednesday, the high and variable compute costs of AI are pushing vendors towards outcome-based pricing, where payment is tied to measurable business results like deals closed or support tickets resolved.
Why it matters
This trend represents a tectonic shift in the economics of B2B software, directly impacting how you'll procure AI-enabled tools and price your own. The move to outcome-based models means vendors can no longer just sell features; they must prove and guarantee ROI. This will force a new level of rigor in vendor selection and performance management (FinOps for SaaS), but also creates an opportunity for vertical SaaS players who can embed deep, domain-specific expertise and compliance into their agents to deliver and price on demonstrable value.
We've been tracking the rapid deployment of agentic commerce rails, including Adyen's enterprise API suite, Visa's agent scoring, and Mastercard's 'Agent Pay for Machines.' As that infrastructure goes live, a major legal test is emerging: Amazon is clashing with AI search engine Perplexity over its 'Comet' agent, alleging terms of service violations. The case raises foundational questions about platform control versus user delegation.
Why it matters
The Amazon-Perplexity clash will set a crucial precedent for the 'intent problem' and platform disintermediation risks we've covered—specifically, whether a user can legally authorize an agent to act on their behalf if it circumvents a platform's preferred interface. For operators, the outcome will shape the legal and operational frameworks for AI agents in commerce for years to come.
Stablecoin payment firm Ivorypay, which operates in 17 African countries, announced on Tuesday it is the first in Africa to support the x402 payment protocol—the same standard we recently noted powering Ampersend and Visa's new AI payment routing. This integration allows AI agents and other software to natively make and receive stablecoin payments over HTTP, enabling instant, low-cost, cross-border, machine-to-machine transactions.
Why it matters
This marks a crucial step in deploying the foundational plumbing for autonomous commerce in Africa. By enabling software and AI agents to transact directly using stablecoins, Ivorypay is building the rails for a programmable, machine-driven economy on the continent. This move leapfrogs legacy systems and aligns directly with global trends in real-time, agentic payments that will eventually become standard, giving African developers a head start.
MiniPay, the Celo-based stablecoin wallet built into the Opera browser, has launched a digital Visa debit card in partnership with Gnosis Pay. The card allows users in select African, Latin American, and Southeast Asian markets to spend their stablecoin balances directly at over 175 million merchant locations on the Visa network, effectively bridging the gap between crypto holdings and real-world commerce.
Why it matters
This is a significant step in making stablecoins useful for everyday payments in emerging markets. By leveraging the existing Visa rails, it removes the friction of off-ramping for consumers and the burden of crypto acceptance for merchants. This model provides practical utility for digital dollars, accelerating adoption in markets where access to global payment infrastructure is limited, and serves as an important bridge to a more tokenized future.
Global fintech giant Revolut is preparing to launch in South Africa, with its waitlist already approaching 100,000 registrations ahead of a planned 2028 market entry. Head of local operations, Jacques Meyer, confirmed the company has submitted its license application to the SARB. Revolut states its strategy is not to chase high customer volumes but to offer a disruptive, value-focused digital banking experience, including zero-fee accounts.
Why it matters
Revolut's entry will significantly intensify competition for South Africa's incumbent banks (Capitec, Discovery) and local fintechs (Yoco, TymeBank). Its global brand recognition and focus on a low-cost, feature-rich offering could reset consumer expectations and put pressure on existing players' pricing and fee structures. This is a direct challenge in the SA fintech space that will force a competitive response across the board.
Shopify Payments processed an annualized $100 billion in Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV) in Q2 2026, a major milestone in its financial services strategy. Growth is being fueled by its new 'Managed Payments' infrastructure for Plus merchants and an aggressive fee structure that drops platform transaction fees to zero for high-volume merchants who use Shopify Payments exclusively.
Why it matters
This achievement solidifies Shopify's position as a direct and formidable competitor to processors like Adyen, Stripe, and Braintree. By successfully bundling payments into its core platform and making it economically punitive for large merchants to use outside gateways, Shopify is altering the competitive dynamics of payment processing for D2C brands. This is a powerful case study in leveraging an ecosystem to capture more of the value chain, directly compressing margins for standalone payment providers.
Paystack has launched a Small Business Programme in Nigeria, moving beyond payment processing to offer broader business support. The initiative includes grants for high-potential businesses and a 'Small Business Bundle' providing thousands of merchants with up to ₦4 million in discounts on services from 14 partners, including marketing, logistics, and productivity tools.
Why it matters
This is a clear strategic move by Paystack to deepen its relationship with its merchant base and increase stickiness in a competitive market. By addressing core SME pain points beyond payments—namely access to capital and affordable growth tools—Paystack is evolving into a more comprehensive business support platform. This operator playbook focuses on increasing merchant lifetime value and building a defensible ecosystem, a crucial strategy for long-term growth in Africa.
Less than a year after announcing a $100 million commitment to African digital commerce, PayPal has shut down its venture capital arm, PayPal Ventures. The decision is part of a broader corporate restructuring under its new CEO and raises significant questions about the firm's long-term strategic commitment to the African continent.
Why it matters
PayPal's retreat from direct venture investment in Africa underscores the volatility of corporate VC and how quickly strategic priorities can shift with leadership changes. For African fintechs, it's a cautionary tale about relying on such funding. For competitors, it signals a potential opening as a major global player appears to be pulling back, creating opportunities for local and more committed international operators to fill the void.
Spendin, a pan-African cross-border payments company, has expanded its instant payment rails into four Francophone African countries: Cameroon, Senegal, Benin, and Côte d’Ivoire. The service allows businesses to send stablecoin and fiat payouts to local bank accounts and mobile money wallets using XAF and XOF currencies. The company also announced it is integrating AI-powered features into its mobile app.
Why it matters
This is a significant move to address the historically underserved and fragmented Francophone African market. By combining stablecoin efficiency with last-mile fiat settlement and an AI-enhanced user experience, Spendin is building a competitive moat in a region with high growth potential for digital commerce. This playbook for entering and connecting disparate African markets is a key case study in continental expansion.
Following the surge in micro-loans and extreme household debt-service burdens we tracked earlier this month, South African consumer confidence has plunged to -19 in the second quarter of 2026. The FNB/BER Consumer Confidence Index cites soaring fuel prices (petrol up 29%) and the SARB's recent interest rate hike as primary drivers. A separate study by Debt Rescue found nearly half of SA households cannot afford another rate hike.
Why it matters
This trifecta of negative economic pressures—high fuel costs, rising interest rates, and low confidence—signals a severe and imminent squeeze on South African household discretionary spending. Retailers of non-essential goods, like Truworths, Makro, and auto dealers, will be hit hardest as consumers prioritize debt service and necessities. This will force retailers to adapt their promotions, inventory, and credit strategies to a much more constrained consumer environment.
A new analysis confirms that several once-powerful CPUs, including the Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 (2007) and Core i7-2600K (2011), are now obsolete for modern desktop use. The primary reasons are a lack of support for crucial modern instruction sets (like POPCNT and AVX), high power consumption, and no viable upgrade paths. However, they can still find life in retro gaming rigs or as lightweight home lab servers.
Why it matters
This is a great snapshot of the relentless pace of hardware evolution and planned obsolescence. It's a reminder of how quickly top-tier technology becomes vintage, but also highlights the enduring value and enthusiast culture around repurposing old tech for specific, nostalgic, or low-demand use cases, keeping the spirit of classic computing alive.
AI Cost Crunch Forces SaaS Pivot The high and variable cost of AI compute is forcing a fundamental shift in SaaS business models, moving away from predictable per-seat licenses towards outcome-based and usage-based pricing. This 'techflation' requires operators to develop sophisticated FinOps practices to manage vendor costs and rethink how they price their own AI-driven services (c_98, c_73, c_70).
The 'Platform-Beyond-Payments' Playbook Scales in Africa Major African fintechs are expanding their value propositions beyond simple payment processing. Paystack is launching an SME support program with grants and tools (c_44), OPay is focusing on deepening financial inclusion at scale (c_46), and Safaricom's M-PESA is transforming into a super-app ecosystem with hundreds of mini-apps (c_47), all aiming to build deeper, stickier merchant relationships.
Infrastructure for Agentic Commerce Goes Live The infrastructure for AI-driven, autonomous commerce is rapidly maturing and going live. Ivorypay is deploying the machine-to-machine X402 payment protocol in Africa using stablecoins (c_14), and a major legal battle between Amazon and Perplexity is starting to define the rules of engagement for agentic shopping (c_90). Meanwhile, a Juniper report flags agentic commerce as a top consumer trend (c_11).
Francophone Africa Emerges as a Key Fintech Battleground Fintechs are making a dedicated push into the historically underserved Francophone African market. Spendin is launching instant XAF/XOF payment rails in Cameroon, Senegal, Benin, and Côte d’Ivoire, coupled with AI-powered features to gain a competitive edge in a region ripe for disruption (c_3, c_16).
SA Consumer Squeeze Intensifies A confluence of soaring fuel prices and potential interest rate hikes has caused South African consumer confidence to plummet to its lowest level since early 2025. With nearly half of households unable to afford another rate hike, a significant contraction in discretionary spending is imminent, directly impacting retailers, auto dealers, and hospitality groups (c_77, c_76, c_78).
What to Expect
2026-06-25—Africa Payments & RegTech Forum 2026 takes place in Johannesburg.
2026-07-01—Checkers Sixty60 and Pick n Pay Asap! delivery fees increase to R37.
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