PayU Kenya has officially begun its liquidity proceedings, a strategy that marks its exit from the Kenyan markets after six years of operations.
Following this announcement, the decision to shut down was filed under Kenya’s Insolvency Act and published in a local newspaper notice. The new liquidator will be given the responsibility to focus on the process of winding up the company’s affairs and settling any outstanding liabilities.
The reasons behind PayU Kenya’s liquidation were not detailed in the public notice, and the institution has not issued an official statement on the matter. It is also unclear whether the decision represents part of a broader strategic shift by PayU or its parent company, Prosus, which has stakes in multiple fintech businesses around the world.
With the liquidation now underway, all interested parties or creditors have also been invited to present their claims to the liquidator in accordance with Kenya’s insolvency laws and requirements.
More information on PayU’s strategy in the region of Kenya
PayU launched its suite of solutions in Kenya in 2019 through a partnership with local payments firm Cellulant. PayU’s Kenyan operation was approved by the Central Bank of Kenya, and the launch aimed to provide organisations and financial institutions with on-the-ground local liaisons and localised customer support. With PayU Kenya, users and customers were given the possibility to transact in volume at the approval rates certified by PayU.
To complement the localised offering in Kenya, PayU signed a partnership with Cellulant to ensure localisation and payment method expansion, as the Cellulant corporation developed and provided a mobile payments platform for connecting businesses and governments in Africa. It also offered consumer payments, digital and neighbourhood agency banking, and remittance solutions.
Although the company secured the required licences and established a local presence, PayU struggled to gain significant traction in Kenya’s digital payments sector. At the same time, the country’s market is currently dominated by several players, particularly mobile money providers, making it difficult for new entrants to scale quickly.
