Kora

Kora Payment Acceptance Overview for Merchants

Kora is a payments infrastructure provider focused on helping merchants and platforms accept payments and move money across Africa using APIs and no-code tools. For businesses that need online collections, payouts, and settlement workflows across multiple African markets, Kora bundles pay-ins, checkout, payment links, virtual accounts, payouts, settlements, identity verification, and card issuing into one product stack.

What Kora Is

Kora provides tools to process, reconcile, and report payment transactions for merchants, alongside related operational features such as settlement options and payout management. Its product suite includes:

• Pay-ins for collections
• Kora Checkout for online checkout flows
• Payment Links for no-code payment collection
• Virtual Accounts
• Payouts (dashboard and API-based)
• Settlements (including instant and batch settlement modes)
• Identity (KYC/KYB verification)
• Card Issuing (virtual USD cards)
• Balance features for real-time balance and reconciliation

Where Kora Operates

Kora positions its payments coverage around Africa, with region options and market coverage explicitly referenced for:

• Nigeria
• Cameroon
• Ghana
• South Africa
• Kenya
• Egypt
• Ivory Coast

Core Payment Acceptance Products

Pay-Ins for Online Collections

Kora’s Pay-ins are designed to help merchants accept payments the easy way and build flexible customer payment experiences. The Pay-ins product explicitly supports:

• Card payments
• Bank transfers
• Direct debit
• Virtual accounts
• QR payments (listed as coming soon)

Kora Checkout

Kora Checkout supports one-time and subscription-based payments and is positioned as a way to accept payments without embedding a payment gateway directly into a merchant site.

Two checkout implementation options are explicitly described:

Checkout Standard

• Uses API keys from the dashboard
• Adds a Pay-in/collection script
• Provides instant confirmation via webhook

Checkout Redirect

• Uses a Checkout URL to send customers to a hosted payment page for secure payments

Kora also states Checkout is designed as a low-code payment page experience, intended to reduce development effort.

Payment Links

Kora Payment Links are positioned for merchants that do not need a website and want a no-code way to accept payments. The product explicitly supports setting up links for:

• Online purchases
• Subscriptions
• Donations
• Fundraising

The flow described is:

• Create a free account and navigate to Payment Link
• Generate a link and customize it
• Activate, share, and start receiving payments

Settlements

Kora’s settlement product emphasizes flexibility in where and how merchants receive funds:

• Settle into a Kora balance or a registered bank account
• Track settlement statuses and scheduled dates on the dashboard
• Receive settlements in a local currency and bank account
• Configure batch settlement modes and schedules to lock settlement time periods

Kora also explicitly states it supports:

• Anti-fraud network and real-time transaction monitoring
• KYC and AML/CFT measures

In addition, card payment dates are defined as:

• T+1 for local card transactions
• T+9 for foreign card transactions

Payouts

Kora offers outbound payouts via dashboard or Payout API, positioned for fast disbursements and operational control. Capabilities explicitly listed include:

• Fast disbursements
• 99% success rate on every payout
• Real-time payout status tracking
• “Simple to integrate” with API and documentation
• Ability to payout to over 250 commercial and microfinance banks
• Outbound transfers to any bank account

Supported Payment Methods and Schemes

Kora’s payment method coverage, as described across product pages and legal definitions, includes:

• Cards
• Bank transfers
• Direct debit
• Virtual accounts
• Mobile money (referenced in product navigation and cross-border positioning)
• QR payments (coming soon)

Supported Currencies

Kora presents a supported currency set for merchant offer access and startup-oriented programs, including:

• KES
• NGN
• XOF
• XAF
• GHS
• ZAR
• USD
• GBP
• EUR

Currency availability can be market-dependent (for example, settlement in local currency is positioned as a core feature).

Compliance and Security

Kora lists the following compliance standards and certifications:

• PCI DSS v4.0
• ISO 27001:2013
• ISO 22301:2019

Kora also positions its platform security around fraud monitoring, transaction monitoring, and identity and compliance measures tied to KYC/KYB and AML/CFT controls.

Developer Experience and Integrations

Kora provides developer resources and documentation intended to support merchant and platform integration, including:

• API-based integration (Pay-ins, payouts, identity, settlements)
• Webhook support (explicitly referenced for Checkout Standard confirmations)
• Documentation and API references via developer portals

Kora’s Checkout Standard flow explicitly references:

• API keys from the dashboard
• A Pay-in/collection script
• Webhook confirmation

Merchant Operations, Reporting, and Reconciliation

Across product positioning, Kora emphasizes operational visibility through:

• A dashboard for managing pay-ins and payouts
• Settlement tracking with statuses and scheduled dates
• Balance and reconciliation tooling (positioned as real-time balance and reconciliation support)

For payout operations, Kora explicitly highlights real-time status tracking for payouts.

Support and Onboarding

Kora provides a “Quick Help” / help center entry point and directs merchants to contact support for clarifications. Payment Links and Pay-ins are positioned as allowing merchants to start collecting payments “within minutes,” and several products direct merchants to self-serve via dashboard setup and documentation.

Conclusion

Kora’s merchant-facing payment acceptance stack is centered on online collections and payout workflows across African markets. Merchants can accept payments using card and bank rails (plus direct debit and virtual accounts), deploy hosted checkout flows or payment links, and manage payouts and settlement schedules through a dashboard or APIs. Kora also publishes concrete compliance markers (PCI DSS v4.0, ISO 27001:2013, ISO 22301:2019) and positions fraud monitoring, KYC/KYB, and AML/CFT controls as part of its infrastructure. Pricing and commercial terms are handled through merchant agreements and sales-driven onboarding rather than a public rate card.