August 11, 2026 by Lucas Ajanaku
AI-powered digital commerce platform unveiled
As digital commerce expands across Africa, concerns over fraud, failed deliveries and payment disputes continue to challenge buyers, sellers and businesses conducting transactions online.
Against this backdrop, Nigerian technology entrepreneur Mgbeoji Austin has introduced PaySureFy, a platform designed to provide escrow-based transaction protection and fraud intelligence for cross-border commerce.
The company described PaySureFy as Africa’s first AI-powered cross-border escrow and Trust Infrastructure, aimed at helping individuals and organisations conduct transactions with greater confidence by combining identity verification, escrow workflows, fraud detection and dispute management within a single platform.
Unlike conventional payment platforms, PaySureFy says it operates a non-custodial model, meaning it does not hold customers’ funds. Instead, payments are processed and settled through licensed banking and payment partners, while the company provides the technology layer governing transaction conditions, verification, authorisation and dispute resolution.
Austin said the platform was developed in response to a growing need for trust mechanisms as digital payments become more common across the continent.
“Africa has made significant progress in digital payments, but payment speed alone does not solve fraud. The next challenge is ensuring the people involved can be verified, transaction conditions are trusted and disputes can be resolved fairly,” he said.
According to the company, the platform integrates identity verification, milestone-based escrow payments, AI-assisted fraud analysis, multilingual support and structured dispute resolution to support online marketplaces, freelancers, merchants, procurement agents, businesses and diaspora users.
Industry analysts have increasingly argued that while payment infrastructure across Africa has improved rapidly in recent years, trust remains one of the biggest barriers to wider adoption of online commerce, particularly in transactions involving unfamiliar parties or cross-border payments.
Austin said the idea behind PaySureFy dates back to 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, when remote work and digital transactions accelerated. He explained that the concept evolved from focusing solely on secure payments to addressing broader issues surrounding trust in commercial transactions.
“The question eventually became bigger than making payments safer. Before money moves, the people involved, the transaction itself, the risks and the agreed conditions should all be trusted.”
The company said users can establish transaction terms before payment is made, while release or refund of funds follows agreed conditions supported by identity authentication and transaction evidence where necessary. Where disputes arise, parties may submit evidence for review before settlement instructions are issued through regulated financial partners.
PaySureFy also said it is applying artificial intelligence to identify potential fraud indicators, including suspicious transaction behaviour, identity inconsistencies, unusual device activity and possible off-platform manipulation before transactions are completed.
According to Austin, AI is intended to function as a decision-support tool rather than replacing human judgement.
“Fraud usually leaves detectable signals. AI can help identify those signals earlier, support review and help users make more informed decisions.”
The platform has also incorporated multilingual capabilities, with support being introduced across several African and international languages, including Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo, Swahili, Twi, French, Mandarin and Spanish, as part of efforts to improve accessibility for users across different markets.
Beyond individual users, the company said it is developing a Trust-as-a-Service offering that would allow marketplaces, digital platforms and institutions to integrate escrow workflows, identity verification and dispute-resolution capabilities into their own systems through application programming interfaces (APIs).
As part of its expansion plans, PaySureFy announced that Adeleye Raymond has joined the company as Co-founder and Chief Financial Officer. The company said Raymond will oversee financial strategy, internal controls, compliance readiness and banking relationships as the business scales.
Austin said building a trusted transaction ecosystem requires more than technology.
“Trust is not only a technology issue; it also requires sound financial controls, compliance and operational discipline.”
The company said PaySureFy is targeting users across social commerce platforms, freelance marketplaces, procurement services, small businesses and diaspora communities that frequently conduct transactions involving multiple jurisdictions.
With online commerce continuing to grow across Africa, industry observers say platforms that combine payment infrastructure with identity verification, fraud management and dispute resolution could play an increasingly important role in addressing confidence gaps that still limit digital trade.
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