TymeBank, a digital banking platform based in South Africa, has successfully secured $77.8 million in funding during its pre-Series C round. The funding round was led by Norrsken22, a growth stage fund focused on African markets, and Blue Earth Capital, a Swiss global impact investment firm. TymeBank has announced its intention to close its Series C round later this year, as stated in their official statement.

Notably, Tencent, the leading investor in TymeBank’s $70 million Series B extension raise in December 2021, also participated in this pre-Series C round and increased its stake in the company. As a result, Tencent has become TymeBank’s third-largest shareholder. The majority ownership of TymeBank lies with African Rainbow Capital (ARC), owned by Patrice Motsepe. Other notable investors supporting TymeBank include the British International Investment (BII), Apis Growth Fund II, JG Summit Holdings (JG Summit), African Fig Tree (AFT), and the Ethos AI Fund.

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Despite being a member of the Tyme Group of companies headquartered in Singapore, TymeBank’s operations are not limited to South Africa alone. The Tyme Group focuses on designing, building, and operating digital banks specifically for emerging markets. In addition to TymeBank in South Africa, the group launched GoTyme in the Philippines in partnership with the Gokongwei Group, marking its entry into the Asian market.

TymeBank, which started its operations in February 2019, adopts a hybrid model combining digital banking services with physical branch operations. The platform offers transactional bank accounts with low or zero monthly fees and savings products to its customers. The onboarding process primarily takes place through physical locations such as national retailers Pick n Pay and Boxer, leading fashion retailer The Foschini Group (TFG), and the Zion Christian Church, one of South Africa’s largest churches. However, TymeBank has also witnessed significant online account openings and a shift from cash deposits to electronic transfers. Notable competitors in this space include Bank Zero and Lula.

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In early February 2021, TymeBank had already secured $110 million in the first tranche of its Series B funding round. At that time, the company, founded by Coen Jocker, was on track to reach 3 million customers. However, in a recent statement, TymeBank revealed that it has achieved a significant milestone by surpassing 7 million customers in South Africa alone. The company’s customer base is expected to continue growing, especially after its expansion into business banking through the acquisition of Retail Capital, a fintech that has provided working capital to over 43,000 business owners in South Africa, amounting to more than R5 billion.

TymeBank prides itself on its innovative approach to banking. It was the first bank in South Africa to operate entirely on a cloud-based infrastructure network, enabling customers to open fully regulated bank accounts in less than five minutes, either online or through TymeBank kiosks. Additionally, TymeBank’s SendMoney app allows users to send money to any cellphone in South Africa within nine seconds.

With a reported annual revenue run rate exceeding $100 million, TymeBank is experiencing rapid growth in its customer base, attracting approximately 300,000 new customers each month across South Africa and the Philippines. The company believes that this exponential growth demonstrates its commitment to meeting consumer needs and solidifies its position as a credible alternative to traditional banks in the country.

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The new capital infusion of $77.8 million brings TymeBank’s total funding raised to over $260 million. With this significant financial backing, TymeBank is poised to accelerate its operations in South Africa and the Philippines, while also setting its sights on expanding into Southeast Asia. The company has already established a global presence, with a product development and engineering hub in Vietnam and its headquarters situated in Singapore, where it leads strategy, business development, data analytics, and artificial intelligence (AI) functions.

The investment from Norrsken22 and Blue Earth Capital reflects their confidence in TymeBank’s unique product offering and its impressive growth trajectory. Natalie Kolbe, the managing partner at Norrsken22, expressed excitement about joining TymeBank’s journey, citing the company’s exceptional management team and its position as one of the largest challenger banks globally. With such strong support from experienced investors, TymeBank is well-positioned to propel itself into the next phase of its expansion.

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

African Rainbow Capital (ARC), which is owned by billionaire Patrice Motsepe, has invested over R2 billion ($108M) in the digital bank TymeBank.

Here’s What You Need To Know

• The latest investment was recently revealed when ARC released its preliminary financial report for the six months ended December 3, 2022. TymeBank, which calls itself South Africa’s first digital-only bank, has an effective 57.7% interest owned by ARC. With 6.2 million customers as of the end of December, TymeBank, according to a statement from ARC, is still a top digital bank.

• The Foschini Group (TFG) and TymeBank announced a partnership, deploying 600 kiosks across 22 TFG brands, thereby increasing the reach of the digital bank in South Africa, according to the report.

• TymeBank and retailer TFG increased their collaboration in January by launching co-branded financial services and goods both in-store and online. When TymeBank and TFG first teamed together, they announced aspirations to provide a wide range of financial products and create new services in October 2021.

• According to ARC, TymeBank purchased Retail Capital during the period under review to bolster the business banking services provided by the online bank.

• It continues by saying that at the end of the year, TymeBank’s value was changed to reflect the Series B3 capital raising that had been completed to pay for the purchase of 100% of Retail Capital. A little over 50% of the $60 million capital round came from the $30 million that ARC Fund provided.

• Outside of South Africa, TymeBank’s global division, Tyme Global, recently partnered with JG Summit to establish its digital bank, GOtyme, in the Philippines.

• According to ARC, the fair value of the Tyme Global investment was increased by 39% through the ARC Fund and ARC FSH to R696 million in order to reflect the post-money value of the recently completed capital raising. It adds the potential of Tyme Global and the thesis around developing a multi-country digital bank at scale are starting to come to fruition.

“During the period under review, the value of ARC Fund’s effective investment in ARC Investments reduced from R700 million at 30 June 2022, to R587 million at 31 December 2022, due to a decline in the share price,” the report noted. 

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