When Theo Kirstohoff, Co-founder & CEO of Sticitt, returned from years of experience across banking and developmental finance in the UK and South Africa, he had one clear realization: South Africa’s schools and parents were stuck with outdated, fragmented payment systems. Parents shuffled between cash, bank transfers, and multiple platforms, while schools wrestled with delayed payments and reconciliation nightmares. To change this, Theo teamed up with Denis Wevell, now CPO, and Mitch Dart, now CTO, to launch Sticitt in 2018.
“The three of us conceptualized the idea together and were part of the journey right from the very beginning. My two co-founders brought extensive experience in tech consulting and application development in South Africa. Combined with my background in financial markets, this mix shaped many of our early discussions about where the real opportunities lay to drive meaningful change and create lasting impact,” says Theo.
Today, the seven-year-old startup has processed over a billion rand in payments across 500 schools, supporting more than 100,000 parents. With its focus on education and youth banking, Sticitt is redefining how families and institutions experience payments in South Africa.
Solving for parents and schools
The Sticitt solution works in deceptively simple ways. Parents who need to pay school fees or fund their child’s daily expenses can do so quickly and securely through the platform. Schools benefit from streamlined payment processing, reduced reconciliation burden, and better visibility into their financial ecosystem.
But the company didn’t stop at transactions. Recognizing that children’s financial habits are shaped early, Sticitt also created tools for parents to give money to their kids in controlled, trackable ways—turning everyday experiences into teachable moments about saving, spending, and responsibility.
“We help anyone that wants to make a payment to an education organization, or within the campus environment of an education organization as easy as possible for both parties—for the party that needs to receive the money and for the party that needs to pay the money. And we also make it as easy as possible for parents to give their kids money in a way that they can teach their kids healthy money habits through everyday money experiences,” Theo explains.
This dual focus—on operational ease for schools and financial literacy for youth—sets Sticitt apart from other fintech players. “It’s not about the payment solution itself,” Theo explains. “It’s about putting the infrastructure together in a way that solves for the niche market better than competitors can.”
“In the payments market, very few players are addressing the specific needs of the education sector and the unique requirements that come with it. Similarly, when it comes to youth-focused transactional offerings for parents and children, only a handful of existing banking players have ventured into this space,” Theo highlights.
The business model
Like most fintechs, Sticitt makes money through a blend of transaction fees and SaaS subscriptions. Each payment processed generates a small revenue component, while schools and parents using the platform contribute to a recurring monthly fee. This mix provides both scalability and stability, ensuring the business can grow without over-reliance on a single stream.
Seven years in, the model has proven itself. Since inception, Sticitt has processed over R1 billion worth of payments, supports more than 100,000 parents, and is active across 500 schools in South Africa. These milestones underscore the traction it has gained in its chosen niche.
The strength of Sticitt’s model has also been validated by investor confidence. In 2022, the company secured a R3-million investment from Crucis VC, a new South African venture capital firm. This was followed in 2025 by a Series A round led by Knife Capital, one of the country’s leading VC firms, further underscoring belief in Sticitt’s vision and growth trajectory.
Challenges along the way
No founder journey is without hurdles, and for Sticitt, the challenges came on multiple fronts. Regulation was a constant consideration, given the complexities of operating in financial services. Navigating compliance while innovating required both patience and precision. Funding was another uphill climb. Unlike Silicon Valley, where capital flows freely, South Africa’s ecosystem offers far fewer opportunities for early-stage startups. “Capital is available, but not as available as in larger markets,” Theo notes.
Then came the realities of growth itself. Scaling a payments business takes time, and revenue rarely grows as fast as founders hope. Balancing operational costs, customer acquisition, and product development tested the team’s resilience. “Starting a business is fun, but it’s a challenge every day,” Theo admits with candor.
Competing by focusing
In the broader payments landscape, differentiation is notoriously difficult. After all, a transaction is a transaction. But Sticitt’s strength lay in its laser focus. While competitors cast wide nets across industries, Sticitt zeroed in on education and youth banking. By tailoring infrastructure and customer experience specifically for this segment, it created value where others overlooked it.
“How you design and structure payment infrastructure to truly address the needs of a niche market is what sets us apart from competitors,” Theo says.
This niche positioning has become the company’s competitive moat. Schools and parents see Sticitt not as a generic payment processor but as a partner attuned to their unique context.
Riding the fintech wave in South Africa
The timing of Sticitt’s journey coincided with a fintech renaissance in South Africa. According to Theo, the sector is seeing a shift, with the rollout of instant payment rails such as PayShap, modeled on Brazil’s successful Pix system. Card payments remain dominant, but alternative methods are gaining ground, particularly for everyday transactions. Regulators, meanwhile, are working to inject more competition into financial services without compromising stability—a balance that has the industry optimistic.
Sticitt has positioned itself well within these shifts. Its focus on building infrastructure for schools dovetails with the broader trend of making financial systems more inclusive and efficient.
The road ahead
Looking to the future, Sticitt has two clear ambitions. First, to become the de facto payment provider for schools in South Africa, embedding itself deeply in the education ecosystem. Second, to cement its role as the leading youth banking provider, helping a new generation form responsible financial habits.
Beyond South Africa, expansion is firmly on the horizon. The founders believe their model can be adapted to other regions where education intersects with financial inclusion. By the latter part of 2026, the team expects to pursue a funding round to support this international growth.
Lessons in entrepreneurship
For Theo, the entrepreneurial path has been as much about personal growth as business milestones. When asked about his biggest lesson, his answer is straightforward: passion and persistence matter above all. “Find something you’re passionate about and don’t stop pursuing it,” he says. Success is never guaranteed, but commitment to the mission is what carries founders through the inevitable challenges.
Another conviction he holds is around impact beyond metrics. Too many companies, he argues, are celebrated for growth that comes at the expense of end users. Sticitt wants to prove another way is possible: to build responsibly, to measure not only sales but the difference made in people’s lives, and to encourage other businesses to do the same.