PayChainKE
Verified payments and working-capital infrastructure for Kenyan merchants.
Overview
PayChainKE gives Kenyan SMEs a single, verified account for collections, payroll, and working capital. Every inbound M‑PESA payment is collected through NCBA's Open Banking rails (STK Push, Paybill, and Lipa na M‑PESA) and bank-confirmed before it is ever posted to the merchant's ledger. On top of that ledger, merchants get electronic invoicing with KRA e-TIMS fiscalization, bulk payroll disbursement, revenue-based cash advances, and a trust score derived entirely from their own verified transaction history.
The platform is built for merchants who currently rely on M‑PESA statements, screenshots, and spreadsheets to run their business — replacing that with an auditable system of record.
Product Suite
| App | Description |
|---|
| Merchant Dashboard | Primary web console for collections, bulk pay, invoicing, cash advance, and account management. |
| Mobile App | Native merchant experience for collections and account management on the move. |
| Admin Dashboard | Internal console for merchant oversight, revenue reporting, compliance verification, and support tooling. |
| Officer Portal | KYC/KYB application intake and review workstation for onboarding officers. |
| Checkout | Public, unbranded payment page customers land on to pay a link, invoice, or account. |
| Developer Docs | Public documentation for the PayChain Developer API — integration guides, webhooks, and reference. |
| Marketing Site | Public-facing site, waitlist, and product marketing. |
| Backend API | Core ledger, payments, payouts, and settlement service. |
Core Capabilities
- PayChain Virtual Account — a dedicated collections account per merchant; every inbound payment is verified before it is ever shown as settled.
- Electronic Invoicing — line-itemed invoices with KRA e-TIMS fiscalization, emailed to customers, and payable via the same verified STK Push flow.
- Bulk Payments — payroll and supplier disbursement in a single, securely authorized batch.
- Cash Advance — revenue-based working capital, underwritten from verified transaction history rather than collateral.
- Trust Score — a proprietary score computed from real, verified merchant activity; it is not self-reported.
- Audit Trail — every balance-affecting event is logged for reconciliation.
Architecture
A monorepo containing the merchant-facing web and mobile clients, internal admin/officer tooling, and the backend API.
- Frontend: React 18, TypeScript, Vite, Tailwind CSS.
- Mobile: Expo (React Native), TypeScript.
- Backend: Node.js, Express, MongoDB.
- Payments & Settlement: NCBA Open Banking — STK Push/Paybill collections, Mobile B2W, Lipa na M‑PESA, and PesaLink/RTGS/IFT bank payouts.
- Monorepo tooling: npm workspaces + Turborepo.
Security & Compliance
- Multi-factor authorization on sensitive account actions.
- Digital KYC/KYB on merchant onboarding, with dedicated officer and admin review workflows.
- Immutable transaction and audit logging for every balance-affecting event.
- Built-in KRA e-TIMS electronic tax invoicing support.
This repository contains application code only. It does not contain production credentials, customer data, internal operational tooling, or secrets — all environments are configured via .env files that are excluded from version control.
Getting Started
Prerequisites: Node.js ≥ 18, npm ≥ 10, a MongoDB connection string.
# Install dependencies for every app in the workspace
npm install
# Run everything in dev mode
npm run dev
# Run a single app
npm run dev:web
npm run dev:backend
# Any other workspace app (admin, officer, merchant-dashboard, checkout, docs)
npm run dev --workspace=apps/<app-name>
# Mobile app (Expo)
cd apps/mobile-app && npm start
Each app defines its own environment variables — copy the relevant .env.example to .env and fill in local values before running.
Contributing
This repository is not currently accepting external contributions.
License
Released under the MIT License unless otherwise noted in a specific package.
Contact
PayChainKE — infrastructure for resilient, compliant Kenyan businesses.
