littlefish and Halo Dot have partnered to offer financial institutions an integrated SoftPOS and merchant operating system solution.
Through the partnership, banks, merchant acquirers, and payment providers get a single, integrated offering that lets their merchant clients accept payments and manage business operations from one platform. The combined solution is available now to financial institution partners globally. Initial deployments are already underway across African markets in 2026.
Combining payment acceptance and business tools
The agreement brings together two platforms that cover different layers of the merchant stack. littlefish provides a modular merchant operating system that combines POS, merchant management, loyalty, inventory, and customer engagement functions. Halo Dot supplies globally certified SoftPOS technology that turns compatible NFC-enabled mobile devices into payment terminals for contactless payment acceptance.
With the two platforms integrated, financial institutions can deploy payment acceptance and merchant management without dedicated card terminal hardware. A merchant needs only a compatible mobile device to take payments and run sales, stock management, and loyalty programmes. According to the companies, the setup is intended to shorten time to market for institutions and simplify the technology stack they have to manage.
The division of roles is clear. Halo Dot provides the secure infrastructure behind contactless acceptance, while littlefish delivers the software layer that supports day-to-day operations and merchant engagement.
Merchant relationships beyond the payment rail
The companies frame the partnership around a change in what merchants expect from payment providers. They say merchants increasingly want technology that helps them manage their businesses, engage customers, and operate efficiently, rather than payment acceptance alone. Financial institutions, in turn, are looking for ways to strengthen merchant relationships beyond transaction processing.
According to the two companies, the industry has often responded to these needs by adding hardware and complexity. Their combined model takes a different route: a single platform, distributed through the partner financial institution, that links each payment to wider support for the merchant’s business.
Brandon Roberts, Co-Founder and CEO of littlefish, described the two platforms as complementary. The official said the partnership allows banks and acquirers to deliver a complete merchant solution, covering both secure payment acceptance and the business tools merchants require. Furthermore, Gareth Corbishley, Managing Director of Halo Dot, said the company was built to make secure digital payment acceptance simple, scalable, and accessible, and that the partnership extends this capability through littlefish’s merchant platform.
Rollout and implications
The offering is available to financial institutions in all markets, and the first deployments are taking place in Africa. Further rollouts will follow as more institutions join.
For banks and acquirers, the model packages SoftPOS acceptance and value-added merchant services as one product. Institutions no longer have to source and integrate these capabilities separately. Because acceptance runs on a mobile device rather than a dedicated terminal, the hardware requirement for merchant onboarding is also reduced. The companies position this as a way for institutions to compete on the services they provide around the transaction, not only on payment processing.
