Yoco has raised $83 million (R1.23 billion). The South African payments platform that prides itself in making it simple for entrepreneurs to get paid has raised the fund in Series C funding to scale up its platform and expand internationally.
Yoco is an African technology company that creates opportunities for entrepreneurs to get paid and be more successful by breaking down barriers to in payments. Yoco creates access so that more businesses can participate in the economy and thrive.
According to the Co-Founder of Yoco Technologies Katlego Maphai, “this is the largest single investment ever raised by a South African payments company and one of the largest on the continent… Yoco didn’t start with an idea. Instead, it began with the meeting of minds. A diverse group of humans from different walks of life, coming together on the same wavelength. We unified around a common purpose to remove barriers, level the playing field and enable people to thrive.
Today, we are the preferred digital payments solution for over 150 000 small and micro merchants across South Africa, processing a billion dollars on the platform. We are still very much at the beginning of our journey. In many ways, the global pandemic has deepened our resolve to be an enabling force for our customers inside a challenging socio-economic environment.”
The fintech startup is establishing new markets; building business tools and financial services that work for entrepreneurs, making payments accessible for small businesses – often for the first time. They raised $16 million back in 2018 in a Series B funding round. This newly-secured funding has taken its total funds raised to $107million. This funding will help increase its market presence beyond South Africa and hasten the development of its financial ecosystem for small companies.
The funding round was backed by a new investor, Dragoneer Investment Group, which is making its debut into the Africa investment market. Breyer Capital, HOF Capital, The Raba Partnership, 4DX Ventures, TO Ventures, and other current and former executives from global digital companies like Coinbase, Revolut, Spotify, and Gojek also participated in the round.
Yoco expects to reach a million SMEs in the next four years, with over 100 million SMEs transacting in cash throughout both regions. To achieve these growth plans, it aims to increase its team by 200 people who will be working both remotely and across their offices in Cape Town and Amsterdam within the next year.
