Freepaid, the company behind SIMcloud, has been building and running prepaid software in South Africa since 2003. Our first platform went live in 2004, and businesses have been moving airtime, data, electricity and vouchers through our systems every day since.
Most people know us for the products. Fewer know that everything underneath them is software we wrote, run and repair ourselves: the wallets, the network integrations, the point of sale, the APIs.
We are now offering that capability to other businesses. If you are a founder who needs a platform built, a company that needs a telco or point-of-sale integration done properly, or an investor looking for a technical partner for a portfolio company, this is what we can do for you and how we would work together.
A software development partner that runs its own platforms
There are many software houses in South Africa. Most of them build a system, hand it over and move on to the next client. They rarely have to live with what they built.
We do. Every design decision we make ends up in a system that our own customers use to move money, at any hour, and that our own team has to support when a mobile network or a municipality has a bad day. That changes how you write software. You stop admiring clever code and start caring about what happens when a supplier times out halfway through a transaction.
That is the difference we bring as a software development partner. We are not selling a theory of how production systems should behave. We operate several.
What we have built and run ourselves
Everything in this list is live and in use. You can open most of it in your browser today.
- A prepaid wallet and ledger. Customers fund a balance, every purchase is debited against it, failed transactions are reversed automatically and each one produces a tax invoice.
- Real-time integrations with all four mobile networks. Direct airtime and data recharges on Vodacom, MTN, Cell C and Telkom, with status tracked per transaction.
- Prepaid electricity vending. Token purchases across municipal and private utility vendors, including recurring purchases and bulk orders for many meters at once.
- Bulk processing. Thousands of recharges from a single CSV upload, queued, processed by background workers and reported back line by line.
- Public APIs. A documented REST API for airtime, data, SMS, electricity, vouchers, balances and network lookup, alongside the SOAP airtime service that longer-standing integrations still use.
- An MCP server for AI assistants. Customers can connect an AI assistant to their account through our MCP server, with OAuth sign-in and scoped permissions. We wrote about why that matters for anyone building software now.
- Point-of-sale software. Our Whitelabel point-of-sale application lets retailers sell airtime at the till and print vouchers on demand, with no stock to carry.
- Universal airtime vouchers. AllNet vouchers are a single PIN that the recipient redeems on whichever network they use, online or by USSD.
- Digital gift vouchers and bulk SMS. Both run from the same wallet, with their own supplier integrations and delivery tracking.
- Branded portals. The same platform serves distributor-branded sites, each with its own look, from one codebase.
- Payments and security. Instant EFT pay-ins, automatic matching of bank deposits to wallets, and one-time PIN protection on sign-in.
- Sponsored wifi. Our Datasaver captive portal and ad server lets a business offer free branded wifi to a community.
Over the years these systems have served organisations such as Uber, Shell, Exxaro, Cipla, AVBOB, Southern Sun and several South African universities, alongside businesses of every size, from street vendors to listed companies. Some of the work has been bespoke, such as a mobile recharge system for Mr Price Group.
Telco software development and integration
Telecoms is where we have spent more than twenty years, and it is harder than it looks from outside.
Each network has its own interface, its own product catalogue and its own way of failing. Numbers move between networks when people port. A recharge can be accepted, delayed, rejected or left in an unknown state, and your system has to know which, because a customer’s money is attached to the answer.
If your product needs any of the following, we have already solved it once:
- Airtime and data as a reward, incentive or payout inside your own app.
- A distribution platform for reselling airtime or data under your own brand.
- Network lookup and number validation before a transaction is attempted.
- Bulk messaging with delivery reporting.
- SIM fleet top-ups on a schedule, with reporting for finance.
- USSD and voucher redemption flows.
You can build on what we already run through the airtime API, or we can build the integration layer and the product around it for you.
Point-of-sale software development
Our second area of depth is the till. Point-of-sale software has to work on the hardware a shop already owns, with a cashier who has a queue in front of them and a connection that drops.
We have built and supported point-of-sale software that sells prepaid products on demand, prints vouchers on a till printer, draws stock from a central account in real time and gives the owner transaction reports online. The retailer carries no airtime stock and does not have to plan purchases per network.
That experience applies well beyond airtime. Selling prepaid electricity from a shop, adding vouchers and bill payments to an existing till, or connecting a point-of-sale system to a wallet or loyalty scheme are all the same kind of problem: a small transaction that must complete correctly, be recorded once and reconcile at the end of the day.
Custom software for other industries
Telco and point of sale are our specialities, not our limits. We are able to build software and platforms for any industry, and we are open about why we think our background transfers.
Strip the airtime out of what we do and what remains is a set of problems most businesses have:
- Money moving between parties, with a ledger that has to balance.
- Third-party suppliers that are slow, inconsistent or occasionally down.
- High volumes of small transactions, where each one matters to someone.
- Customers who need a portal, an API and reports, and an admin team that needs a back office.
- Finance teams that need an invoice and an audit trail for everything.
If your platform involves payments, wallets, vouchers, vending, subscriptions, marketplaces, logistics or any integration-heavy product, the engineering is familiar to us even where the industry is new.
Where a project needs knowledge we do not have, we will tell you before we start, not after.
How we work with you
We are willing to enter a formal technical agreement and stand behind what we build. There are three ways that usually takes shape.
As your software vendor
You have a defined piece of work: an integration, a platform, a rebuild of something that has outgrown itself. We agree the scope in writing, build it and hand it over, with support terms that suit you.
As your technical partner
You have a business and a market but not an engineering team, or not enough of one. We act as that team under an ongoing agreement, building the product with you and running it in production.
On our existing rails
If your product needs airtime, data, electricity, vouchers or SMS, you do not have to rebuild any of it. You use our APIs and wallets under your own brand, and we build whatever sits on top.
The right structure depends on your stage and what you need from us. We would rather agree that openly at the start than fit you into a template.
For founders and investors
If you are a founder, the usual choices are to hire engineers before you have revenue, or to outsource to a team that has never run a live system. We are a third option: people who have kept a transactional platform running for two decades and will build yours with the same habits.
If you are an investor, you will know the portfolio company with a strong commercial team and a product that keeps slipping. We can step in as the technical partner, take ownership of delivery and give you a clear view of what is built and what is not.
In both cases you get a team that already has the supplier relationships, the integrations and the operational experience in South African prepaid, which can take a new entrant years to assemble.
What working with us looks like
- A first conversation. You tell us what you are trying to build and why. We tell you honestly whether we are the right people.
- A written scope. What we will build, what we will not, and what it depends on.
- Delivery in stages. Working software you can see and test, not a long silence followed by a launch.
- Production from the start. Logging, monitoring, reversals and reconciliation are part of the build, not a later phase.
- A clear agreement on ownership and support. You know who owns the code and who answers the phone.
Talk to us
If you have a platform to build or an integration that needs doing properly, we would like to hear about it.
Call or WhatsApp our new business line on 074 707 7000, and tell us in a few sentences what you are working on. We will come back to you with questions, not a sales deck.
If you would like to judge our work first, read the API documentation, connect to the MCP server, or open a free SIMcloud account and send a recharge. That is the standard we build to.
Questions we get asked
Who is behind SIMcloud?
SIMcloud is built and operated by Freepaid (Pty) Ltd, based in Bellville, Western Cape. Freepaid was established in 2003 and launched its first service in 2004.
Does Freepaid do custom software development?
Yes. As well as running our own platforms, we build software and integrations for other businesses, as a vendor on a defined project or as an ongoing technical partner.
Do you only work in telecoms?
No. Telecoms and point of sale are where our experience is deepest, but we build software and platforms for other industries too, particularly where payments, wallets, vouchers or third-party integrations are involved.
Can we launch a prepaid product under our own brand?
Yes. You can use our airtime, data, electricity, voucher and SMS services through the API under your own brand, and we can build the customer-facing product for you.
Will you sign a technical or partnership agreement?
Yes. We are willing to enter a formal agreement as your software vendor or technical partner. The terms depend on the project and are agreed with you directly.
How do we start?
Contact our new business line on 074 707 7000 and describe what you want to build. The first conversation costs nothing.