South African fintech startup, Yoco has raised $83 million in Series C funding to scale offline and online offerings and expand to new markets.
The round was led by Dragoneer Investment Group. Other investors that participated include new investors Breyer Capital, HOF Capital, The Raba Partnership, 4DX Ventures and TO Ventures; and existing investors Partech, Velocity Capital Fintech Ventures, Orange Ventures and Quona Capital. Current and former executives from global tech companies such as Coinbase, Revolut, Spotify and Gojek took part as well.
Yoco builds tools and services to help small businesses accept card payments in-store and online, access loans, and manage their day-to-day activities. Since launching in 2013, the company has positioned itself as the go-to platform to access offline payments among merchants in the country.
The latest round is the largest single investment raised by a payments company in South Africa and the largest ever by a small business-focused payments platform in the Middle East and Africa (MENA).
According to TechCrunch, Yoco currently serves 150,000 businesses and adds over 500 merchants per day. The company claims to be processing more than $1 billion in card payments per year, and in its six years of existence, it has processed over $2 billion in card payments.
The company is looking forward to replicating its growth in other parts of Africa and the Middle East. With over 100 million SMEs transacting in cash across both regions, Yoco plans to reach at least a million within the next four years.
To accomplish this, Yoco is increasing its team by 200 people remotely and across its offices in Cape Town and Amsterdam within the next year. The company is also tapping into a current trend that has seen African soonicorns and unicorns hire former top employees from global companies to scale theirs to new heights. some of Yoco’s new hires include a former VP of product at Monzo, a former product marketing director at Paypal and a former head of communications at Uber. The company has also brought on board a new chairman, Juan Fuentes, the former managing director of fintech unicorn Pagseguro.
What they are saying
Christian Jensen, co-head of private investments at Dragoneer, said. “We couldn’t be more excited to partner with the Yoco team. At Dragoneer, we look for great teams that are building durable businesses with wonderful economic models, and that is exactly what we’ve found at Yoco. Yoco is already beloved by customers, and the product roadmap that the company is investing behind will drive even more value for merchants. While there is tremendous room for continued growth domestically, the opportunity for Yoco goes well beyond South Africa.”
Katlego Maphai, chief executive officer (CEO) of Yoco, said “We are excited to partner with such world-class investors who have joined our quest to break barriers and create access to financial services for millions of small businesses across the continent. Looking ahead, this investment will unlock capacity for us to accelerate product development for our merchants and continue on our growth trajectory in South Africa and beyond.”
