EagleLion patents cardless AirPay, debuts in Dashen's 2M-user SuperApp
What's the deal? EagleLion System TechnologyDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → Group has secured a patent from the Ethiopian Intellectual Property Authority for AirPayDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, a payment technology that lets customers pay without entering account numbers, scanning QR codes or using cards. The technology is now live inside Dashen BankDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →'s SuperApp.
How it works: AirPay runs a search-based system that lets users find nearby registered merchants and pay them directly from a mobile device. It operates through EagleLion's StarPayDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → merchant network and also supports person-to-person transfers.
Why now? The patent lands as Ethiopian banks and fintechs expand digital payments, including mobile banking and QR-based merchant acceptance. The National Bank of Ethiopia is pushing reforms to grow digital financial services, with EthSwitch's instant-payment system and a national interoperable QR standard aiming to connect banks, wallets and merchants.
What's the endgame? The Dashen integration is AirPay's first deployment inside a banking app, reaching a SuperApp that Dashen said had passed 2 million subscribers by March 2026. EagleLion described AirPay as the first technology of its kind globally, though it offered no independent evidence for that claim.
What could go wrong? EagleLion did not disclose how many merchants are accessible through AirPay, its transaction volumes, or whether it will open the technology to other banks. The announcement also does not establish how widely merchants have adopted it or whether it works across providers.
The signal: AirPay offers an alternative way to identify payment recipients in a market racing toward interoperability. Whether it becomes more than a feature for Dashen's own app will depend on merchant uptake and cross-provider reach — details the current rollout leaves open.
Read more: birrmetrics.com
Image credit: Generated with Gemini
