Paymenow, a company co-founded by Springbok legend Bryan Habana, is merging with PayCurve as the young company enters a key growth stage.
On top of his over 100 Springbok caps, Habana is the nation’s leading try scorer and was part of the 2007 World Cup-winning team. He is now an accomplished businessman.
Paymenow is the largest earned wages access and employee financial wellness platform on the continent.
The company was founded in 2019 by Habana, who now serves as Chief Client Officer; CEO Deon Nobrega; CTO Willem Van Zyl; and CDO Gerbrand Potgieter.
The Stellenbosch-based company now serves over 750,000 employees in South Africa, Namibia, Zambia and Pakistan.
The company’s partners include Telkom, Openserve, BCX, TFG, Boxer, Bidvest, Clicks, Cotton On, Food Lover’s Market, Netcare, Makro, Pep, We Buy Cars, PnA, Sun International, Virgin Active and many more.
The platform allows employees access to their earned wages before payday, which helps them avoid payday lenders. It also offers financial education, vouchers for essential items and savings accounts.
The company is now merging with Johannesburg-based PayCurve, which is known for its personalised, data-led approach to improving employee financial wellbeing.
PayCurve, which was founded in 2020, uses data to identify financially distressed employees before the crisis point, with services ranging from debt rehabilitation journeys to gamified money coaching.
The two companies will now merge and operate under the Paymenow brand, creating South Africa’s first fully integrated employee financial wellness platform.
“Millions of working South Africans face two realities at once: they run short of cash before payday, and they carry debt they cannot sustainably service,” said Deon Nobrega, CEO and co-founder of Paymenow.
“PayCurve has built a capability no one else in the market has — identifying financially vulnerable employees early and helping them recover.”
By bringing that into Paymenow, Nobrega said the merged company can now guide an employee from their first wage advance to becoming debt-free and building savings.
The good for employers
For employers, the new platform will offer a wide array of products to address workforce financial stress, from month-end cash flow pressure to chronic over-indebtedness.
These issues are some of the key drivers of absenteeism, reduced productivity, and staff turnover. The services are thus designed to promote workforce resilience, improve retention and enhance employee wellbeing.
Research by 60 Decibels from Paymenow’s user base found that 94% of users report an improved quality of life, with three in four saying that they do not rely on payday lenders.
“Earned wage access is powerful, but it works best when combined with savings, education and debt recovery support,” said Tamir Sacks, co-founder and CEO of PayCurve.
“The missing piece in the market has been proactive debt intervention. Joining Paymenow means we can now scale that mission nationally and help transform employee wellbeing across South Africa.”
Existing clients and employees of both businesses are unaffected by the integration, and users can now access a larger suite of tools powered by the combined technology and product capabilities.
The combined team will have close to 100 employees, and the merger will also look to boost product and execution capacity at a pivotal growth stage for the business.
The combined Paymenow is facing increasing competition from payroll providers, banks and fintech entrants.
