Talk360 - Afrikan Heroes

Strong Growth in South Africa Extends Talk360 Seed Funding to $7m

October 3, 2022

International calling app Talk360, which enables people around the world to make reliable and affordable calls to any landline or mobile phone worldwide, has secured an additional $3 million in seed round funding, taking its total seed round to $7 million after its first closing in May. The funds will help the company grow its market share in South Africa, drive its growth on the rest of the continent and launch its market first pan-African payment platform in 2023.

The latest round of funding includes new South African investors like Allan Gray E2 Ventures (AGEV), Kalon Venture Partners, E4E Africa, Endeavor, existing lead investor HAVAÍC and angel investors in the form of the co-founders of TymeBank, Tjaart van der Walt and Coenraad Jonker.

In the past year, Talk360 has seen 167% growth in customers and 130% revenue growth, and has nearly doubled the number of calling minutes to and from South Africa, on the back of what it calls a ‘significantly improved’ distribution network.

Established in 2016 by Dutch entrepreneurs Hans Osnabrugge and Jorne Schamp and South African venture builder Dean Hiine, the company connected 2.3 million people worldwide so far this year. Hiine says it has doubled its headcount this year as it looks to aggressively grow the business.

“Our mission is to bridge distance and connect lives by offering reliable, affordable, and easy-to-use digital services, delivered in a localised manner to all communities, particularly emerging countries, so they can connect to the world,” said Hiine. “But we’re not just solving socio-economic issues: we’re also offering micro-entrepreneurship and income generating opportunities to our growing network of agents across the country.”

Talk360’s agent model in South Africa is key to its success, with agents earning cash for every customer referred. The company has seen a 33% growth in agents, bringing in over 800% more customers over the past year, as it looks to build micro-entrepreneurship, bring income opportunities & jobs to underserved communities and grow its footprint.

Clive Butkow, the CEO of Kalon, said the Talk360 team had ‘a wealth of experience’ in the communications space in South Africa and across the continent. “We’re excited to add this investment to the Kalon portfolio, and believe it has the potential to rapidly scale across Africa,” he said.

Ian Lessem, managing partner at HAVAÍC, said the fact the initial seed round target was oversubscribed is a testament to Talk360’s remarkable traction to date and growth potential.

“We invested more into Talk360 based on its strong progress in the South African market to date, as well as its potential in the rest of Africa. Since our first investment, the company has shown spectacular growth, and a genuine ability to crack the challenge of distribution in Africa. We’ve seen the company convert users to paying customers by offering them relevant services, and making this accessible in an easy, affordable, reliable and trustworthy way,” said Lessem.

Tjaart van der Walt said the Tyme founders were investing because Talk360 enables potentially millions of people in remote areas to make and receive calls more affordably. “We see this need for many years to come. We believe in the Talk360 team: they are passionate and purposeful, and can execute,” he said.

Hiine expects Talk360’s growth to be further boosted when it launches its pan-African payment platform in 2023. The new platform will allow users across the continent to buy products and services using any currency and more than 160 payment methods. It will also be opened to other merchants. This year alone, Talk360 has added six new currencies, added African-specific payment methods such as OTT vouchers, and grown its partnerships with local solutions such as Kazang and Blu voucher.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry

South Africa’s Talk360 Raises Additional $3M Seed Funding

Talk360, a South African Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) firm, has secured an additional $3 million months after the first closing of its seed round, bringing the total investment garnered in the round to $7 million.

Allan Gray E2 Ventures (AGEV), Kalon Venture Partners, E4E Africa, Endeavor, current lead investor HAVAC, and a number of angel investors, including Tjaart van der Walt and Coenraad Jonker, are among the latest investors in Talk360.

The fresh funds will be used to create a pan-African payment platform next year and expand its VoIP market share. Talk360’s payment platform will integrate “all payment methods” on the continent, resulting in a wide pool of localised payment choices that will make it simple for foreign and local firms to sell to African shoppers.

“The new platform will allow users across the continent to buy products and services using any currency and more than 160 payment methods. It will also be opened to other merchants,” Talk360 said in a statement.

Why The Investors Invested

The startup has generated considerable traction since it was founded. The firm reported that their internet calling software has successfully linked 2.3 million individuals all over the world up to this point in the year, achieving a 167% gain in subscribers and a 130% growth in sales. Over 170 nations, including South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Bangladesh, are represented within the app’s active user base.

“We invested more into Talk360 based on its strong progress in the South African market to date, as well as its potential in the rest of Africa. Since our first investment, the company has shown spectacular growth, and a genuine ability to crack the challenge of distribution in Africa. We’ve seen the company convert users to paying customers by offering them relevant services, and making this accessible in an easy, affordable, reliable and trustworthy way,” said HAVAÍC managing partner, Ian Lessem.

A Look At What The Startup Does

Dean Hiine, Hans Osnabrugge, and Jorne Schamp launched Talk360 in 2016. Through its app, the startup’s payment infrastructure allows consumers all throughout Africa to make international calls. Talk360 customers pay for calls, and the platform is designed so that just the initiator requires the software and internet — a smartphone — to initiate calls.

In a previous interview, Talk360 stated that its decision to become a payment aggregator was influenced by the difficulties it found in introducing digital payment methods, which impacted the bottom line of its internet calling company.

According to Hiine, existing digital payment options in Africa are dispersed, with some involving lengthy and difficult processes, lowering conversion rates.

The firm also offers a network of agents, such as PesaPoint in Kenya and Flash in South Africa, via which consumers may buy airtime vouchers from over 750,000 physical points of sale.

“Our mission is to bridge distance and connect lives by offering reliable, affordable, and easy-to-use digital services, delivered in a localised manner to all communities, particularly emerging countries, so they can connect to the world,” said Hiine.

“But we’re not just solving socio-economic issues: we’re also offering micro-entrepreneurship and income generating opportunities to our growing network of agents across the country.”

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Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert.
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard. You can book a session and speak with him using the link: https://insightsbyexperts.com/view_expert/charles-rapulu-udoh

South African Payments Startup Talk360 Raises $4M Seed Funding Round

June 2, 2022

Talk360 has raised $4 million in seed capital to extend its international phone operations and build an African payment platform. HAVAC led the financing round, which also included private investors such as Gabriel de Montessuss, Gaston Aussems, Marnix van der Ploeg, and Robert Kraal.

The payment platform will aggregate all of Africa’s many payment services, which are often region-specific.

Businesses will no longer need to enter into arrangements with various suppliers to cater to their regionally diverse userbases.

According to Dean Hiine, co-founder of Talk360, the payment network would make it simple for international merchants to sell their products and services to African consumers.

“In our calling company, we discovered some specific digital payment issues in Africa. Payment channels are dispersed, and payment processes are time-consuming “Hiine stated.

“We are constructing the platform to boost our conversion rate by giving the customer a single checkout experience, and to some extent, give predictive research — to tell the preferred means of payment for that location and offer them as top options for the user.”

Talk360 allows users to make international calls that just require the caller to have the app and an Internet connection — customers on the receiving end do not require either.

Talk360 claims to be widely used in South Africa and has teamed with Flash, a South African point-of-sale provider, to allow users to purchase airtime vouchers.

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Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert.
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard. You can book a session and speak with him using the link: https://insightsbyexperts.com/view_expert/charles-rapulu-udoh