Segovia Technology

Segovia Technology was established in 2014 by co-founders Michael Faye and Paul Niehaus. The founders, who were also instrumental in the non-profit GiveDirectly, launched Segovia as a for-profit venture to develop technology for managing field logistics, specifically focusing on cash transfer programs for the poor. This background provided them with deep insights into the challenges of delivering aid, such as high administrative costs and leakage.

The company developed a payment platform tailored for corporate payments and social programs in emerging markets. Segovia's core business was providing a technology solution that enabled institutional clients—like governments, NGOs, and businesses—to manage and execute large-scale payment flows to frontier markets. The platform was designed to address the final-mile delivery challenges, using technologies such as machine learning and biometric identification to ensure payments reached the intended recipients securely and efficiently. This service aimed to reduce inefficiencies and transfer costs, thereby increasing the amount of money received by beneficiaries.

The business model centered on offering its payment gateway as a fee-for-service enterprise software. Clients included international development organizations, non-bank financial institutions, and other businesses with significant payment operations in developing regions across Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean. In a significant milestone, Segovia raised $15 million in a Series A funding round led by Reid Hoffman, with participation from entities like the Omidyar Group and the Lampert Family Foundation.

In April 2019, it was announced that CABIM Ltd., the parent company of Crown Agents Bank, would acquire Segovia's enterprise business and payment gateway. This acquisition, which closed in July 2019, was a strategic move to combine Segovia's modern payment infrastructure with Crown Agents Bank's extensive foreign exchange and settlement network. The collaboration aimed to create a more scalable and efficient payment solution for B2B transactions into frontier markets. As part of the acquisition, Segovia's consumer remittance offering, Taptap Send, was spun off into a separate, independent company. Keywords: frontier market payments, payment gateway, financial software, cash transfers, emerging markets, B2B payments, mobile money, fintech, social programs, aid delivery