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Tyme Group, which runs South African digital bank TymeBank, has raised $250 million in a Series D led by Nubank, one of the world’s largest digital financial service platforms, to join the unicorn club of just eight in Africa.
Tyme Group, with over 15 million customers across South Africa and the Philippines, operates TymeBank in South Africa with its 10 million customers.
The latest raise means Tyme Group has reached a unicorn status with a $.1.5 billion valuation. Nubank joins Tyme as a strategic investor to fuel its next stage of growth while African Rainbow Capital remains Tyme’s majority shareholder.
“Nubank transformed financial services in Brazil. We are excited by the value that Nubank’s thought partnership and advice can bring to Tyme particularly in areas such as data analytics, credit risk management, product development and marketing – levers we believe are key to achieving leadership in our markets. This is a moment of great significance for Tyme,” said Coen Jonker, Founder and CEO of Tyme Group.
Nubank invested US$150 million, with M&G’s Catalyst subscribing for US$50 million. Existing shareholders are investing a further US$50 million. The transaction will see ARC and Apis Growth Fund II (‘Apis’) remain as the largest and second largest shareholders respectively. Tyme’s other investors includes the Founders, The Ethos AI Fund, Tencent, The Gokongwei Group, British International Investment (BII), Norrsken 22, Blue Earth and Lavender Hill Capital Partners.
The Nubank partnership brings significant expertise and resources to Tyme, positioning the company well to expand its market presence.
“We think that Tyme Group is extremely well-positioned to be a digital bank leader in Africa and Southeast Asia,” said David Vélez, Founder and CEO of Nubank, “We are excited to work with Tyme to share many of our learnings of scaling this model to hundreds of millions of customers.”
In July, TymeBank appointed Karl Westvig as its new Chief Executive Officer so that CEO, Coenraad Jonker, will turn his full attention to his role as Executive Chairman of Tyme Group to drive the growth into new countries and new products. In South Africa, the bank was on course to reach 10 million customers under Coen making him the ideal person to lead Tyme Group into the next growth phase in preparation for a public listing.
Westvig was TymeBank’s Chief Executive for Retail and Business Banking and is a founder member of various local and international finance companies, including the RCS Group and Retail Capital (now a division of TymeBank). Since joining TymeBank’s leadership team, Westvig has been instrumental in spearheading business banking and charting the bank’s lending proposition.
As an incoming CEO, Westvig promised to make TymeBank a top three bank in terms of customer satisfaction, growth in customer numbers and shareholder returns and the bank is headed towards that direction.
“This funding will propel our growth strategy, enabling us to realise our stated goal of being a top three retail bank in South Africa in the next three years. Additionally, the enhanced credibility and market visibility that comes with the affiliation with Nubank, along with the large established networks of global investors, including GIC, Berkshire Hathaway and others, helps pave the group’s path towards a potential listing by 2028,” said Karl Westvig, CEO of TymeBank, Tyme Group’s flagship bank in South Africa.
At a group level GOTyme Bank is already the fastest growing bank in the Philippines with three million customers. Tyme has entered Vietnam with its first product and is set to launch in Indonesia by the end of the year. Tyme Group aims to list the business in 2028.
Commenting on the Nubank partnership, Patrice Motsepe, Chairperson of major shareholder African Rainbow Capital, said: “As the long-term strategic shareholder in Tyme, we enthusiastically welcome the partnership with leading global digital bank, Nubank, as we are convinced this will lead to an even higher and significantly accelerated growth trajectory for the multi-country Tyme Group.”
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