SA's Tyme Group Achieves Unicorn Status with $250M Series D Investment

Coen Jonker, Tyme Group Co-Founder & CEO

Tyme Group, the multi-country digital banking group head-quartered in Singapore with 15 million customers in Africa and South-East Asia, today announced that Nubank, has joined its shareholder base through a strategic investment during its Series D Capital Raise. Nubank is one of the world's largest financial services platforms with over 110 million customers.

Having completed its latest investment round, Tyme Group has now also firmly achieved unicorn status after securing a total of US$250 million in funding for a total valuation of US$1.5 billion. Tyme’s oversubscribed series D capital raise was led by Nubank, which invested US$150 million, with M&G’s Catalyst subscribing for US$50 million. Existing shareholders are investing a further US$50 million. Tyme’s investors includes the Founders, African Rainbow Capital, The Ethos AI Fund, Apis Growth Fund II (‘Apis’), Tencent, The Gokongwei Group, British International Investment (BII), Norrsken 22, Blue Earth and Lavender Hill Capital Partners.

The Nubank partnership solidifies Tyme's position within digital banking and sets the stage for the latter’s growth in Southeast Asia. This partnership brings significant expertise and resources to Tyme, positioning the company well to expand its market presence.

"Nubank transformed financial services in Brazil. We are excited by the value that Nubank's thought partnership and advice can bring to Tyme particularly in areas such as data analytics, credit risk management, product development and marketing - levers we believe are key to achieving leadership in our markets. This is a moment of great significance for Tyme," said Coen Jonker, Co-Founder and CEO of Tyme Group.

David Vélez, founder and CEO of Nubank, added: “Since the beginning of Nubank, we have believed that the future of financial services globally is of digitally-native companies. We have met dozens of teams across different geographies, and we think that Tyme Group is extremely well-positioned to be a digital bank leader in Africa and Southeast Asia. We are excited to work with Tyme to share many of our learnings of scaling this model to hundreds of millions of customers.”

Praveg Patil, Head of Asia Pacific, Impact & Private Equity at M&G, commented: “Investing in innovative companies like Tyme Group is essential for driving financial inclusion in underserved markets. M&G’s Catalyst is able to invest in transformative initiatives that create lasting social impact. Through this investment we are addressing the needs of communities that have traditionally been excluded from the financial system to build a more inclusive financial ecosystem.”

Commenting on the Nubank partnership, Patrice Motsepe, Chairperson of major shareholder African Rainbow Capital, said: “As the long-term strategic shareholder in Tyme, we enthusiastically welcome the partnership with leading global digital bank, Nubank, as we are convinced this will lead to an even higher and significantly accelerated growth trajectory for the multi-country Tyme Group.”

Tyme wishes to thank the law firm Webber Wentzel, Rothschild & Co, Avista Advisory Partners and Ekta Partners for their support and invaluable advice on the transaction.

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