Direct Pay Online Group (DPO) is to expand to at least six more African countries after receiving a second investment of US$5M from the UK-based private equity fund Apis Partners.

The investment, which follows an initial US$10 million investment made last year, will be used to fuel DPO Group's organic growth across Africa, while strengthening its position through mergers and acquisitions, integrating the systems of all companies under the group, and developing new payments technology and the DumaPay app.

"The DPO Group is expanding across Africa and making strategic partnerships to gain maximum market share and maintain its African leadership," Direct Pay Online Group CEO Eran Feinstein told ITWeb Africa.

The company is already active in 12 African countries, namely Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda,, Rwanda, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Ghana, Ethiopia and Mauritius, but Feinstein said it will be actively expanding its presence in the short to medium term.

"Over the next six months, we will open in Nigeria, DRC, Mozambique, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Angola, and many more," he said.

DPO Group chairman Offer Gat said the additional capital from Apis was a sign of the confidence that the company's partners have in it, and a positive reinforcement of the good work it is doing with the business.

According to its strategic plan, DPO Group has also finalised the acquisition of five companies - Pay Gate and VCS in South Africa, VCS in Namibia and Botswana, and PayThru in South Africa, and are in the final stages of acquiring an additional company which will be announced later this year.

The Group has further completed the first phase of integration between DPO and PayGate's systems, and rolled out a new version of its next generation payments application, DumaPay, which is the first mobile application in Africa that supports multiple payment options.

"Pay Gate has been leading the South African payment service industry for the last 15 years by providing state of the art technology, high-end security features, the highest level of professional service, and holding significant market share. Naturally, this is why Paygate was chosen as a partner," Feinstein said.

"2017 has been an extremely successful year for us and we are very proud of the strides we have made towards the achievement of our goals. This most recent capital injection will help to further the Group's strategic plans in the region which will include the establishment of up to 26 branches across Africa, the acquisition of at least one additional company, and the continuation of our technological distribution across Africa."