From Three Transactions to a Banking Stake: How PesaPal’s 16-Year Grind Earned KCB’s Fintech Bet KCB Group’s strategic minority stake in PesaPal crowns a 16-year fintech journey marked by resilience, profitability, and innovation — redefining how East Africa’s largest bank engages with digital finance.

Kenya’s largest lender, KCB Group Plc, has taken a calculated leap into the fintech frontier with the acquisition of a minority stake in PesaPal Limited, a leading regional payments company licensed by the Central Bank of Kenya. 

The deal, announced publicly on October 31, 2025, underscores KCB’s growing commitment to digital transformation and its intent to embed itself deeper into the technology-driven payments ecosystem.

The transaction, subject to regulatory approval, represents more than a financial investment. 

It is a strategic alignment between a traditional banking powerhouse and a homegrown fintech that has spent sixteen years quietly building one of East Africa’s most extensive digital payment infrastructures. 

KCB said the move would “advance innovative payment and financial solutions for small and micro enterprises,” a segment that has long struggled to access formal financial systems. 

Behind the official statement lies a compelling story of endurance, discipline, and long-term vision that began with just three online transactions in 2009.

The Art of the Grind: PesaPal’s Patient Rise

Moses Kemibaro, the CEO of Dotsavvy in his LinkedIn Post, ‘The Art Of The Grind: PesaPal’s 16-Year Journey From 3 Transactions To Securing An Investment Stake From KCB Group’ provides insights on how the fintech earned its place in the region.

Kemibaro writes that, when Liko Agosta founded PesaPal in 2009, it was out of necessity rather than design. His team, running an East African travel portal, could not find a reliable local payment gateway to process online bookings. 

Global systems, wary of African merchants, routinely froze accounts or flagged transactions. Instead of abandoning the idea, Agosta built his own solution — the first iteration of what would later become PesaPal.

In its first year, the platform processed only three transactions. Yet, as Agosta has often recounted, that modest start was no deterrent. 

The breakthrough came a year later when PesaPal powered ticket sales for Access Kenya, launching TicketSasa and selling 156 tickets within weeks. 

That success validated the model and prompted PesaPal’s pivot to digital payments as its core business.

Over the next decade, PesaPal operated on a philosophy rarely seen in Africa’s fintech circles — sustainable growth over hype, profitability over valuation. 

Agosta turned away from venture capital that demanded aggressive scaling and instead built an enterprise grounded in revenue, customer retention, and product reliability. 

“Profitability is the true north, not unicorn status,” he told Dotsavvy’s Moses Kemibaro, whose detailed chronicle of the company’s evolution — “The Art of the Grind” — captures the founder’s unwavering belief in long-term resilience over short-term excitement

Pesalpal

By maintaining that discipline, PesaPal transformed from a niche payment gateway into a full-fledged fintech ecosystem. 

Its portfolio now spans online payments, travel booking integration through ReservePort, event ticketing via TicketSasa, expense management on OpenFloat, and SME lending through PesaPal Credit. 

The firm’s most visible innovation is the Sabi POS terminal, a sleek Android-based device that accepts both card and mobile money payments. 

By 2025, more than 35,000 Sabi terminals were in use across Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania, accounting for roughly 60 percent of all active point-of-sale terminals in Kenya.

That dominance, built quietly and consistently, positioned PesaPal as the digital heartbeat of East Africa’s SME economy — a networked ecosystem where data, payments, and business growth intersect daily.

Why KCB’s Investment Matters

KCB’s entry into PesaPal’s shareholder base signals a strategic convergence between legacy banking and fintech innovation. 

For the bank, the minority stake provides a direct pipeline into PesaPal’s merchant ecosystem — a vast base of small and medium enterprises already accustomed to digital transactions.

By integrating its services within that infrastructure, KCB stands to expand its reach beyond traditional banking halls into the digital storefronts and mobile platforms where commerce now thrives.

Moreover, PesaPal’s transaction data provides an invaluable resource for KCB’s SME strategy. 

For years, banks have struggled to lend to small businesses due to lack of collateral or reliable cashflow records. 

PesaPal’s system, which captures daily transaction histories across thousands of merchants, offers KCB a data-driven foundation for cashflow-based lending. 

The partnership, therefore, gives the bank an opportunity to de-risk lending to SMEs — using real-time sales data rather than static financial statements.

Beyond lending, the collaboration opens new revenue lines through payment processing and settlement fees, aligning with KCB’s broader goal of increasing non-interest income.

 With PesaPal already licensed in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania, the deal also positions KCB for regional fintech integration — complementing its footprint across East Africa’s major markets.

For PesaPal, the benefits are equally significant. KCB’s financial muscle, regulatory credibility, and institutional networks could accelerate PesaPal’s expansion and product development without compromising its independence. 

The fact that KCB opted for a minority investment, rather than a full acquisition, ensures that Agosta and his team retain strategic control — a critical factor in maintaining the entrepreneurial agility that built the company in the first place.

A Leadership Realignment for the Digital Era

The transaction comes just months after KCB appointed Mark Mwongela Ngungi, a former PesaPal CEO and ex-PayPal executive, as its Group Director of Strategy and Innovation. 

Ngungi, who reports directly to Group CEO Paul Russo, brings extensive experience from both the global fintech ecosystem and the East African digital payments space. 

His appointment, paired with KCB’s stake in PesaPal, signals a deliberate effort by the bank to infuse fintech DNA into its corporate strategy — not merely through partnerships, but through leadership transformation at the highest level.

Collaboration Over Control

KCB’s investment model reflects a pragmatic understanding of the new financial landscape. 

Rather than viewing fintechs as competitors to be absorbed or outpaced, the bank is choosing collaboration over control. 

This approach positions it as a partner in innovation, allowing PesaPal to retain its agility while KCB leverages the fintech’s data and technological capacity.

In many ways, this deal redefines the relationship between banks and startups in East Africa. 

It suggests that the future of banking lies not in fortress-like dominance but in ecosystem participation — where legacy institutions and innovators combine strengths to deliver inclusive, data-driven financial services.

The Bigger Picture

From three transactions in 2009 to a landmark banking partnership in 2025, PesaPal’s story illustrates the power of persistence and the long-term value of disciplined innovation. 

It stands as a case study in how a fintech can grow quietly, sustainably, and profitably — and how a traditional bank can adapt by partnering, not competing.

For KCB, this is more than a stake in a fintech firm. It is a strategic bet on the future of African banking — one defined by technology, data, and collaboration.