Kenyan travel-booking startup BuuPass is expanding beyond ticketing by partnering with digital wallet provider SafariBucks to make cross-border travel payments easier across African markets.
The partnership will allow travellers to use SafariBucks to pay for BuuPass bookings, including buses, flights and transfers, with transactions settled through local payment rails. The integration is designed to address one of the persistent challenges of travelling across Africa: fragmented payment systems that often force travellers to switch between currencies, wallets, bank accounts and cash when they cross borders.
For BuuPass, the partnership represents another step in its evolution from a ticket-booking platform into a broader travel infrastructure company. Founded in 2016, the startup provides booking services for buses, trains and flights through its software and APIs. It currently operates in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and South Africa, working with more than 150 transport operators.
The company has also expanded into corporate travel. In April 2026, BuuPass launched Gavanpass, a platform that allows businesses to book flights, hotels, buses, ground transfers and group travel while managing approvals and monitoring travel expenditure.
SafariBucks will add a payment layer to this corporate travel offering. Its Spend Management product will integrate with Gavanpass, allowing companies to fund employee trips and manage travel-related expenses across multiple currencies. The arrangement could reduce the administrative burden for businesses whose employees regularly travel between African countries.
Cross-border payments remain a major friction point for African travellers. Mobile money systems are widely used within individual markets, but interoperability can become more complicated once a traveller crosses into another country. Travellers may need a new SIM card, access to a different wallet or cash in the local currency.
SafariBucks is designed to address this problem through a multi-currency wallet. The company says users can hold currencies including Kenyan shillings, Ugandan shillings, Tanzanian shillings, US dollars and euros, while making payments through local rails.
The BuuPass integration could therefore make regional journeys more convenient. A traveller can fund a wallet before leaving home and use it to pay for transport after arriving in another country, rather than arranging separate payment methods for each leg of the journey.
The partnership also reflects BuuPass’ broader expansion across Africa. The company acquired QuickBus in 2024, strengthening its presence in markets including Nigeria and South Africa. BuuPass says it sold more than 30 million tickets and processed over $100 million in travel transactions in 2025.
Both companies are also looking ahead to increased regional travel. Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda are scheduled to co-host the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations, potentially creating significant demand for cross-border transport and payment services.
By combining BuuPass’ travel inventory with SafariBucks’ payment infrastructure, the companies are attempting to address two sides of the same problem: getting travellers where they need to go and making it easier for them to pay once they cross a border.
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