Wayja releases South Africa’s first P2P betting App

Johannesburg-based Wayja has announced it launched its cashless P2P betting platform. The app’s platform will allow users to connect with friends and make cashless wagers on anything, from anywhere. The startup which officially launched in 2020 by Reece Jacobsen and Clinton Holroyd has since been funded by seed capital from the founding team but will look to additional funding rounds as the platform scales.

With South Africa’s gambling industry currently estimated at R30-billion, Wayja intends to fully infiltrate the market.

Wayja CEO Reece Jacobsen speaking on the startup said that the platform grew out of a simple human insight as Peer-to-peer betting is fast overtaking more traditional forms of gambling.

“Everybody loves that feeling of winning bragging rights over your peers. We see countless bets being placed in everyday situations between friends, colleagues, and counterparts. If you’ve ever been in an office pool on Superbru, making bets on the golf course, or even if you’re making bets with friends over who will be the next to get married – then this is for you. Wayja is there to make informal betting simple, quick, and cashless”.

“Our first few weeks in business have been very encouraging and have strengthened the conviction that we’ve built a platform that is filling a gap in the market. We believe that these early sign-ups will snowball as more people get exposed to the platform. The informal bet against friends is not a new phenomenon by any stretch, but Wayja truly brings it into the modern era,” Jacobson said.

Co-founder Clinton Holroyd also added that the potential for scale is what makes the venture exciting as it looks to expand into key international markets such as the US, UK, India, and Nigeria all while gaining further traction in the South African market.

The application is immediately available on the Wayja site and will be available for download on all major app stores by the end of 2021.