BuuPass partners with SafariBucks to enable cross-border travel payments

BuuPass has entered a partnership with Nairobi-based digital wallet SafariBucks to add cross-border payment capabilities to its travel-booking platform.

Under the agreement, travellers will be able to use SafariBucks to pay for BuuPass buses, flights and transfers. Transactions will be settled through local payment rails, with SafariBucks managing the cross-border payment layer and BuuPass providing the underlying travel inventory.

Corporate travel integration

SafariBucks’ Spend Management product will also be integrated with Gavanpass, BuuPass’s corporate travel platform. The integration is intended to allow companies to fund employee travel and manage related tax reporting across multiple currencies.

Gavanpass, launched by BuuPass in April 2026, supports bookings for flights, hotels, buses, ground transfers and group travel. The platform also includes approval workflows and real-time spend tracking.

Sonia Kabra, BuuPass’s co-founder and co-CEO, said the company had spent eight years building the distribution layer for African travel but that customers continued to identify payments as a bigger challenge than bookings.

“Partnering with SafariBucks lets us close that gap without asking anyone to change how they already pay. Corporate travel is where we see it landing first, and it is the fastest-growing part of our business today,” Kabra said.

The companies also expect inbound tourists to be able to load and activate a SafariBucks wallet before arriving and then use it to book BuuPass travel.

Expanding travel infrastructure

SafariBucks chief executive officer and co-founder Ali Hassan said travellers moving across East Africa have faced challenges including carrying cash, obtaining a SIM card at borders and paying informal exchange fees.

“With BuuPass we are removing that friction end to end, for a tourist landing in Nairobi for the first time and for a finance team tracking travel spend across three currencies,” Hassan said.

BuuPass was launched in 2016 and enables users to book intercity bus, train and flight tickets through proprietary software and APIs. It provides inventory management, bookings, payments and reporting across online and offline environments.

The company operates in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and South Africa, working with more than 150 transport operators across bus, train and flight services. Its listed payment integrations include M-PESA, MTN MoMo, First National Bank and Vodapay.

BuuPass said it sold more than 30 million tickets and processed over $100 million in travel transactions in 2025. The company also acquired QuickBus in a cash-and-stock deal in 2024, bringing the company’s integrations and distribution relationships into BuuPass.

BuuPass has secured an undisclosed investment from Yango Ventures to scale its infrastructure and expand its presence across African markets.

Plans for major sporting travel

BuuPass and SafariBucks are positioning the partnership to support travel around the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations. Under the companies’ plans, SafariBucks would handle payments while BuuPass would support movement between host cities and match venues.

The companies’ expansion plans follow increased attention to travel and ticketing infrastructure around major tournaments. The supplied information states that the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in Côte d’Ivoire drew more than 1 million spectators and generated an 800% increase in ticket-sales revenue compared with the previous edition in Cameroon.

The companies have not disclosed the financial terms of their partnership, transaction fees, exchange rates, supported currencies or a specific date for when the integration will become operational.