Nashua partners with ikhokha to expand its Total Workspace Solutions offering for SMEs. Nashua, a leading provider of Total Workspace Solutions, has partnered with iKhokha, one of South Africa's foremost fintech innovators, to add payment acceptance solutions, cash flow enablement solutions and digital financial tools to its comprehensive set of business solutions for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). This positions Nashua as an end-to-end partner to SMEs, enabling productivity from customer transactions to back-office operations, and represents the expansion of the company's Total Workspace Solutions to include a value-added fintech offering. The Nashua franchise network, which includes 42 franchises across South Africa, will distribute iKhokha's tools and solutions. Franchisees will transition to the iKhokha payments platform and provide support to SMEs in adopting the solution. "Nashua's goal is to provide SMEs with a complete set of tools that help them to improve efficiencies, enhance security and profitability to grow their businesses," says Barry Venter, CEO of Nashua. "The iKhokha value-added products and services are a valuable addition to our portfolio for businesses that are looking for practical solutions that enable cashless transactions." iKhokha's fintech solutions make payment acceptance and cashflow management simpler, secure and more affordable for SMEs and will be of relevance to Nashua's customers. The iKhokha solutions help SMEs to futureproof their business across three pillars: * Security: The iKhokha devices enable secure card transactions and significantly reduce the need to handle cash. * Profitability: The solution enables businesses to accept and process sales directly from the device, unlocking additional revenue opportunities. The iKhokha ecosystem offers a range of products, including payment links and accounting solutions, to support growth. Businesses can also earn additional income by selling digital vouchers such as prepaid airtime, data, electricity and gaming. * Efficiency: iKhokha ensures smoother transactions and better cash flow management. Businesses can access iK Cash Advance funding and manage e-commerce through iK Webstore from a single device. They can also track sales and monitor stock with an integrated point of sale solution. Matt Putman, CEO at iKhokha, says: "The partnership is a natural fit because Nashua and iKhokha are homegrown South African businesses that share a common purpose of helping SMEs to thrive. Partnering with Nashua allows us to reach even more entrepreneurs with accessible, innovative tools that help them to scale their businesses and increase their profitability."

African startups raised $187.6 million in August, with the top 10 attracting over $167.1 million. South Africa led with over half of the total inflows, driven by Ikhokha's $93.3 million acquisition by Nedbank. Eastern Africa secured $29.4 million, with Kenya contributing three deals. Western Africa raised $25 million, led by Nigeria's Koolboks ($11 million) and Chowdeck ($9 million). Northern Africa, represented by Egypt, posted $19.4 million, with Breadfast and ValU leading the way.