The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Tyme’s unicorn status throws down the gauntlet for African startups in 2025
SPECIAL REPORT | BIRD AGENCY | Tyme’s US$1.5 billion valuation after a US$150 million investment in the digital bank by Nubank has pushed it into the elite unicorn club and helped lift the gloom that had descended on Africa’s startup scene following a 2024 funding slump.
The deal, part of Tyme’s US$250mn Series D round, marks the largest funding injection into an African startup in two years.
It offers a rare reprieve in a year marked by a sharp contraction in venture capital flows, which plunged by nearly half.
Tyme is now the ninth unicorn in Africa.
Global investors pulled back sharply in 2024 on the continent, but Tyme’s success signals that fintechs with scalable models and disciplined growth strategies can still unlock capital.
According to Africa: The Big Deal, funding for African startups fell by nearly half this year, as rising interest rates and tighter liquidity prompted caution among venture capital firms.
Nubank’s commitment adds a strategic layer to Tyme’s growth, aligning two digital-first banking platforms targeting underserved populations.
Tyme, which started as a Deloitte-led project backed by MTN in 2012, has been a quiet outlier.
Registered in Singapore but operationally anchored in South Africa and the Philippines, the bank’s approach blends aggressive scaling with cost discipline.
By leveraging retail partnerships for customer acquisition—such as in-store kiosks—it has built a mass-market user base without expensive branch infrastructure. In South Africa, where it competes with incumbents and newer challengers, TymeBank has scaled to about 10 million customers.
But Nubank’s investment points to bigger ambitions beyond South Africa’s borders. Southeast Asia, particularly the Philippines, is emerging as the next frontier.
With millions of the region’s unbanked or underbanked, digital banking adoption is accelerating.
Tyme’s early moves in the Philippines echo Nubank’s own playbook in Latin America which is striping banking to its essentials, make it mobile-first, and capturing customers neglected by legacy financial institutions.
The digital bank’s entry into Southeast Asia has seen strong traction in the Philippines, where its GoTyme venture, launched last year in partnership with the Gokongwei Group, replicates its South African model.
By offering zero-fee accounts and debit cards through kiosks in Robinson’s retail outlets, Tyme has gained 5 million users in the market.
Plans are already underway to expand into Vietnam in 2025, where the group employs 300 technology staff to support its regional ambitions.
Tyme’s growth reflects a broader trend of African startups exporting business models to other emerging markets.
Its ability to adapt operations across geographies with overlapping structural gaps—large underbanked populations and low-cost mobile penetration—demonstrates how African fintechs are reshaping perceptions of scalability.
Nubank’s investment secures a 10% stake in Tyme, aligning two digital banking giants that thrive on stripping costs from legacy models.
For Nubank, valued at $56 billion and with operations across Latin America, the investment marks its first major push beyond its home market and underlines a strategic interest in Southeast Asia’s growing financial services sector.
Tyme’s growth in South Africa has not come without scrutiny. Its focus on low-income customers, many of whom rely on government grants, has raised questions about long-term profitability.
But the bank turned its first profit at the end of 2023, a milestone that strengthened investor confidence in its model.
The scale of Tyme’s ambitions sets it apart. With 10 million customers in South Africa and 5 million in the Philippines, the group is targeting 18 million additional users over the next three years. Its ability to execute this strategy will test whether the success of African-born fintechs can be repeated across new markets.
******
SOURCE: bird story agency
