South African banking startup, TymeBank, has reportedly announced that it has secured nearly R1.6 billion (~$109m) investment from new investors in Philippines and the UK. The firm announced this news through an official statement. This investment would be used to strengthen the growth of TymeBank as well as drive its commercial expansion across South Africa.
But this investment would come in two parts. According to TymeBank, approximately R500 million ($34m) have been already invested in the business. Meanwhile, the rest R1.1 billion ($75m) amount would be invested over the upcoming 12 to 15 months.
The digital bank offers a transactional bank account having low or zero monthly fees along with a savings product.
The investors for this unlabeled round include JG Summit Holdings, one of the largest and most diversified Filipino conglomerates, and leading private equity fund, Apis Growth Fund II, which is managed by Apis Partners.
The two investors are highly-experienced in financial services across emerging markets. Like for instance, Apis, which is a well-known private equity asset manager focused on supporting the growth-stage financial services as well as financial infrastructure businesses.
CEO, TymeBank, Tauriq Keraan, stated that emergence of digital banks across South Africa is in its initial stages. Growth in this specific financial services segment would only be possible with investments from partners who are able to understand as well as support the growth path of digital banks.
The investment would also help TymeBank in expanding its wide range of banking products along with growing its lending portfolio. Diversification of offerings is crucial as well, as the bank seeks to improve its propositions in credit cards as well as insurance to customers.
The digital banking startup claims to onboard around 110,000 new customers each month. This makes it internationally recognized for digital banking in emerging economies. The firm plans to reach approximately four million customers next year.
With respect to growth, the bank presently outperforms its opponents in Africa and could be one of the most rapidly growing digital banks across the globe.
Source credit: https://techcrunch.com/2021/02/23/south-african-digital-bank-tymebank-lands-109m-from-uk-and-phillippines-investors/?guccounter=1