Building a $1B Fintech in South Africa with Stitch CEO Kiaan Pillay

Today's guest is Kiaan Pillay, the Co-founder and CEO of Stitch. My conversation with Kiaan comes on the heels of their recent fundraising announcement, a $25 million Series A extension led by the global fintech fund Ribbit Capital, which brings their total funding raised up over $50 million since the launch of the company in 2019.In this episode, we talk to Kiaan about how they've gotten here, the intangibles of company building, their vision for the next generation of payments, and much more.00:00 - Intro03:29 - Stitch's $25 million Series A extension05:51 - Why take money from Ribbit Capital?07:00 - Stitch's growth09:03 - Building products for enterprise11:38 - A developer-centric org13:23 - What products has Stitch built?15:50 - Building a "next-generation" PSP19:06 - Specialization vs. building the full stack22:36 - How deep is the South African market?29:48 - Stitch's company culture as a reflection of Kiaan32:28 - How Stitch has recruited so well35:20 - The perception of startups and equity in South Africa37:15 - How Kiaan hired Stitch's president39:26 - Investing in product and engineering talent42:17 - Kiaan's evolution as a startup founder to CEO of a 70-person company44:30 - The future for Stitch and fintech in AfricaFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/theflipafricahttps://twitter.com/just_norm