Switchpoint Payments Business Plan

Investor-ready dual-rail merchant acquiring business plan: R22m seed, 3,836 merchants and R190.2m net revenue by FY2031.

Switchpoint Payments — a card payment taken at the table on a merchant terminal
Business Plan & Investment Proposal · South Africa

Fintech Business Plan — South Africa

Switchpoint Payments (Pty) Ltd · Each Payment Is Routed To Whichever Rail Prices It Correctly.

Dual-rail merchant acquiring for South African healthcare practices and trade counters,
based in Cape Town — card acceptance and capped-fee account-to-account settlement behind one merchant
relationship, distributed through the vertical software those merchants already run. R22 million of seed equity
at R57 million pre-money for 28 per cent of post-money share capital, with an R85 million Series A
required to reach breakeven. FY2027 to FY2031.

R22mSeed equity sought
3 836Merchants by FY2031
R190.2mFY2031 net revenue
Month 45Breakeven

Read the executive summary →

Two things about this plan are unusually candid, and both belong on the front page.
The first is the routing idea itself: card acceptance and capped-fee account-to-account settlement sit behind one
merchant relationship, and each payment goes to whichever rail prices it correctly — that decision is the
product, not the payment terminal. The second is the disclosure. Net revenue reaches R190.2 million by FY2031
on payment volume that rises 68-fold to R33.9 billion, and the blended take rate compresses every year from 64
basis points to 56 while it does. The plan then states on its own cover that a further 18.3 basis points of card
compression eliminates the terminal-year profit entirely. Four loss-making years precede that profit, the deficit
deepening to R16.7 million in FY2029, and the R85 million Series A is described as required rather than
optional.

The plan at a glance

Six measures that determine whether this business and its funding stand up.

R22mSeed equity soughtAt R57m pre-money for 28% of post-money share capital. An R85m Series A is described as required, not optional.
18.3 bpsCard compression that erases the profitFurther interchange compression of 18.3 basis points eliminates the entire terminal-year EBITDA. The plan states this on its own cover.
64 → 56 bpsBlended net take rateCompressing every year while volume rises 68-fold. Growth has to outrun pricing, and the model shows by how much.
Month 45BreakevenFour loss-making years first, with the deficit deepening to R16.7m in FY2029 before it turns.
3 836Live merchants at FY2031From 149, distributed through the vertical software those merchants already run rather than by direct sales.
R33.9bnTotal payment volumeAcross both rails at FY2031, producing R190.2m of net revenue after R149.5m of payment costs.

The disclosure on the cover

What the business earns in its first profitable year, and how little it takes to remove it.

R19.2mTerminal-year EBITDAThe first profitable year, arriving in FY2031 after four years of losses and a deficit that deepens to R16.7m before it turns.
erased by
18.3 bpsOf further card compressionThat is all it takes to eliminate the entire terminal profit. Most plans bury a number like this; this one puts it on the cover.

Five years of trading

Net revenue and the contribution build on the base case. Merchant additions and take-rate compression are the two assumptions that matter most, and both are stressed in Section 9.

Net revenue build — merchants and the take rate

Payment volume rises 68-fold to R33.9bn while the blended net take rate compresses from 64 basis points to 56. Net revenue grows because merchants grow faster than pricing falls.

FY2027

R3.2m · 149 merchants · 64 bps

FY2028

R18.4m · 533 · 60

FY2029

R51.6m · 1 249 · 59

FY2030

R108.1m · 2 355 · 58
FY2031

R190.2m · 3 836 · 56

Contribution profit against operating expenses

Contribution only overtakes operating expenses in FY2031, which is why EBITDA is negative for four years and deepest at minus R16.7m in FY2029. Breakeven falls in month 45.

FY2027

R1.4m contribution · opex R12.8m

FY2028

R9.5m contribution · R25.1m

FY2029

R28.9m contribution · R45.6m

FY2030

R63.4m contribution · R70.0m
FY2031

R115.9m contribution · R96.7m

Why this plan works the way it does

1
The plan names the number that kills itA further 18.3 basis points of card interchange compression eliminates the entire terminal-year EBITDA. Most plans bury a sensitivity like that in an appendix; this one puts it on the cover.
2
Growth has to outrun pricingThe blended net take rate falls every single year, from 64 basis points to 56. Net revenue still reaches R190.2m because payment volume rises 68-fold — but the direction of travel on price is one-way.
3
Two rails, one merchant relationshipCard acceptance and capped-fee account-to-account settlement behind a single integration, with each payment routed to whichever rail prices it correctly. That routing decision is the product.
4
Distribution is through software, not salespeopleMerchants are reached through the vertical software they already run. That is what makes 149 merchants become 3,836 without a proportional sales force.
5
The Series A is required, not optionalThe plan states plainly that R85m must follow the R22m seed. Four loss-making years and a deficit deepening to R16.7m in FY2029 mean the seed alone does not reach breakeven.

Financial snapshot

Four charts from the plan. The full set of twenty-four appears throughout the sections below.

The fee on a R48 000 trade-counter invoice
Figure 1. The fee on a R48 000 trade-counter invoice.
Net take rate by rail
Figure 6. Net take rate by rail.
FY2031 bridge from net revenue to EBITDA
Figure 11. FY2031 bridge from net revenue to EBITDA.
FY2031 EBITDA sensitivity
Figure 21. FY2031 EBITDA sensitivity.

Contents

Sixteen sections and five appendices. Every page carries full navigation, a section outline and links to the sections either side of it.


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Important Notice and Basis of PreparationBasis of preparation, data sources and forward-looking statement caveats. Please read first.

Appendices
Confidential. This document is provided for the purpose of evaluating an
investment in Switchpoint Payments (Pty) Ltd and may not be reproduced or distributed without written consent. Projections are
forward-looking statements based on the assumptions registered in Section 16 and are not guarantees of future
performance.