Pioneering South African payment service shutting down
Pioneering ticketless parking payment platform KaChing has announced that it will be terminating services in South Africa this month.
The platform was the first cashless parking payment solution in South Africa, using a mobile app to make parking payments easy and convenient for visitors.
The group developed patented technology that uses license plate recognition (LPR) software to smooth the parking experience, allowing shoppers to enter and exit shopping malls without having to use the ticketing system.
Upon launch, the service was available at large retail centres across the country, with notable locations like Melrose Arch, Morningside Shopping Centre, Thrupps, Campus Square, the Pavilion Shopping Centre.
Over the years, more centres were added in metros like Cape Town and Durban, and it expanded to the country’s busiest shopping mall, Mall of Africa.
The startup, which launched on 8 May 2015, was a unique service in the country, and drew investor interest from its early successes, even selling a significant 30% stake of its business to Tritech Media in 2016.
Tritech was founded by Willaim Kirsh, son of Radio 702 and Primedia founder Issie Kirsh, and nephew of billionaire Nathan Kirsh.
KaChing itself was part of the Servest Group, a supplier of facilities management services to thousands of sites throughout Africa and the United Kingdom. It fell under the Servest Parking subsidiary.
The group did not disclose the full reason for its shutdown, aside from saying the plaform had “run its course”.
Over the years, KaChing locations had slowly stagnated and dwindled, and competing platforms like Admyt had moved similar services to key locations and retail centres.
“KaChing has been on a mission to revolutionise the way South Africans pay for parking. Over the past decade, we’ve proudly served thousands of users and partnered with numerous parking facilities to make your experience smoother, faster, and more convenient,” it said.
“After ten years of innovation and dedication, the time has come for us to acknowledge that the technology we pioneered has run its course.”
The group said that it will begin a gradual shutdown of its services, with its final day of operation set for 31 August 2025.
It alerted any users who still have a prepaid balance on the platform to get in contact for a refund. It added that it cannot guarantee refunds after 15 September 2025.
“We are deeply grateful for your support over the years and thank you for being a part of the KaChing journey,” it said.
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