Standard Bank Acquires 35% of South African Fintech Startup, TradeSafe

• Standard Bank today reported that it has acquired a 35% stake in TradeSafe, a South African fintech company.
• Tradesafe was the world’s first digital escrow company to provide an API portal that allows online marketplaces and retailers to provide consumers with escrow payments.
• Standard Bank has appointed two non-executive directors to the Board as part of the investment.

Standard Bank today reported that it has acquired a 35% stake in TradeSafe, a South African fintech company.

TradeSafe was founded in 2013, and is an electronic escrow platform that protects the funds of the buyer in a deal involving two or more parties.

Tradesafe was the world’s first digital escrow company to provide an API portal that allows online marketplaces and retailers to provide consumers with escrow payments.

CEO of TradeSafe, Jethro O’Brien, said, “Both TradeSafe and Standard Bank realised the necessity for a fast, secure, and affordable escrow solution in the wake of the increasing volume of scams, fraud and unpaid invoice payments in South African commerce. Our fees come in at a fifth of what a reputable law firm or bank would charge in a transaction.”

Standard Bank has appointed two non-executive directors to the Board as part of the investment. Standard Bank also manages the administration of TradeSafe’s escrow account and is actively involved in the procedure started by TradeSafe for the payment instructions. “The bank will provide a second release payment function,” O’Brien added.

READ ALSO: South African AI Startup DataProphet Secures $6m to Expand Globally

“This means that with our increased governance, security and credibility, TradeSafe will now be able to target commodity and M&A transactions greater than R25 million.”

The TradeSafe API service also contains new payment gateways like SnapScan, which have both been acquired by Standard Bank and Ozow.“We also employed Standard Bank’s proprietary host-to-host technology which allows for automated payments,” O’Brien also said.

Kuben Chetty, Head of Customer Solutions at Standard Bank, said there is a clear need for a digital escrow solution in South Africa, considering the growth of digital transactions and particularly because buyers and sellers are looking for ways to minimize transaction fraud.

“Standard Bank is very excited with its investment in TradeSafe Escrow and this provides both parties the opportunity to explore ways to leverage each other’s capabilities to help their clients transact securely.”