Tyme Group, a South African fintech, and digital lender has raised $250 million in a Series D round, pushing its valuation to $1.5 billion.
The funding round was led by Nu Holdings, the parent company of Latin America’s most valuable fintech, Nu Bank.
Co participants in the round are with M&G Catalyst Fund and existing investors.
Nu Holdings invested $150 million for a 10% stake.
M&G Catalyst Fund invested $50 million, while existing investors provided the remaining $50 million.
With the valuation, Tyme becomes Africa’s latest unicorn, right after Nigeria’s Moniepoint joined the billion-dollar threshold league.
Nubank’s participation in the deal is part of the bank’s plan to expand outside its Latin American markets. The bank intends to replicate its successes in Latin America by tapping into the growth potential of emerging markets like Africa and South Asia.
About Tyme
Founded in 2019, Tyme Group operates a hybrid model of digital banking, combining online banking with physical service touchpoints.
With headquarters in Singapore, Tyme focuses on building and scaling digital banks in emerging markets via its services which include ;
- checking and savings accounts,
- debit cards,
- buy-now-pay-later credit and
- cash advances
The company boasts of 15 million customers across its South African and the Philippines markets.
Its South African brand, TymeBank, accounts for 10 million users and its Philippine brand, GoTyme, has 5 million users
Tyme claims it has raised over $400 million in customer deposits and has extended more than $600 million in financing to small businesses across both markets.
The fintech plans to expand further into Vietnam and Indonesia next year, projecting for an initial public offering by the end of 2028.
Conclusion
Tyme’s valuation makes it Africa’s 9th unicorn and continues the dominance of fintechs amongst Africa’s unicorns.
Seven out of nine African unicorns are fintechs.