littlefish, a Johannesburg-based fintech startup, has raised $9.5 million in Series A funding to expand its financial infrastructure platform for small businesses across Africa. The development reflects a broader shift in the fintech sector, where startups are increasingly focused on enabling financial institutions to better support SMEs through integrated technology.
The funding round was led by global tech investment firm Partech, with participation from Proparco and returning investors TLcom Capital and Flourish Ventures. This comes just a year after littlefish secured its seed funding, showing growing confidence in its model.
littlefish is building what it describes as a merchant operating system, designed to simplify how small businesses manage their daily operations. Founded in Johannesburg in 2021, the company combines key tools such as point-of-sale systems, customer management platforms, payments and APIs into one unified system. This allows businesses to run their operations more efficiently without switching between multiple platforms.
Small businesses across Africa often rely on fragmented systems. Many use different tools for payments, accounting, inventory and banking, which creates inefficiencies and increases security risks. In South Africa, more than 70% of small businesses have faced at least one attempted cyberattack, highlighting the risks linked to disconnected systems.
