(Bloomberg) — Tyme Group, a digital lender controlled by South African billionaire Patrice Motsepe, raised $250 million in a funding round that made it one of Africa’s few unicorns.
The bank is valued at $1.5 billion after the capital increase, which included a $150 million investment from Latin America’s most valuable financial company, Nu Holdings Ltd.
“This is essentially a unique vote of confidence in our company from the global leaders in our industry,” Coenraad Jonker, CEO and co-founder of Tyme, said in an interview with Bloomberg.
Nubank from Nu Holdings is the world’s largest standalone digital bank, with more than 110 million customers in Brazil, Mexico and Colombia. “They have no plans to grow organically in Southeast Asia,” Jonker said, and his investment “is really the gamble they are taking as Nubank in Southeast Asia and in Africa.
M&G’s Catalyst fund also invested $50 million, while existing shareholders put in a further $50 million, Tyme said. Its current backers include Tencent Holdings Ltd., Gokongwei Group and Norrsken22.
African Rainbow Capital Investments Ltd. de Motsepe will remain Tyme’s largest shareholder with a 40% stake, Jonker said. “Our status as South Africa’s only black-owned and controlled commercial bank remains in place. »
Tyme is the latest fintech company to cross the billion-dollar unicorn threshold and highlights renewed investor interest in the sector, following a turbulent few years in which interest rates soared everywhere in the world.
Tyme Group is headquartered in Singapore but operates as TymeBank in South Africa, where it has accumulated more than 10 million customers, and in the Philippines through a joint venture with Gokongwei Group. The lender has more than 15 million customers across the group, Jonker said.
The lender began offering cash advances to merchants in Vietnam in the second quarter and signed its first business deals in Indonesia, where it recently incorporated, it added. Tyme is also exploring acquisition targets – and is prepared to spend tens of millions of dollars – in order to obtain an Indonesian banking license, according to the chairman.
“The number one task is to become the number one retail bank in the Philippines. The next task is to repeat this in Indonesia,” Jonker said. The digital lender is entering a competitive arena with large incumbents including Bank Mandiri and Bank Rakyat Indonesia, as well as several banks backed by the region’s biggest tech companies.
The latest fundraising will likely be the last as the lender begins preparations for an IPO by the end of 2028.
“Over the next three to four years, we will focus much more on our customers, on excellence and execution in the market, and ensuring that the form of the business is fit for listing, which involves ensuring that we operate in South Africa. the company at a level of return on equity above 30%,” Jonker said.
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