ROSEBANK, Johannesburg, South Africa-headquartered Tyme Bank Ltd. announced securing funds from China and United Kingdom-based investors.
In a statement on Tuesday, Tyme said it has raised $180 million in capital from Chinese multinational technology conglomerate holding company Tencent Holdings Ltd. and UK’s development finance institution and impact investor CDC Group plc.
Tyme (take your money everywhere) said it is set to use the fresh capital to fund and grow operations in South Africa and to fund GOTyme in the Philippines. The firm has secured a digital bank license in partnership with the Gokongwei Group.
The first part of Tyme’s Series-B raise concluded earlier this year when it secured $110 million from Apis Growth Fund II, a private equity fund managed by Apis Partners LLP and Gokongwei’s JG Summit Holdings (JG Summit) Inc.
In August this year, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) gave a digital banking license to GOtyme, a partnership between the Gokongwei Group and Tyme.
The collaboration is Tyme’s first expansion into Asia.
Coen Jonker, co-founder of Tyme, said the successful capital raising is a “clear vote of confidence” in their digital banking offering and leadership teams in South Africa, Singapore and the Philippines.
“Tyme’s global footprint now includes a product development and engineering hub in Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam and banking businesses in South Africa and the Philippines,” Jonker was quoted in the statement as saying. “We have successfully attracted a team of skilled people, which includes over two hundred engineers and established strategy, business development, data, analytics and Artificial Intelligence [AI] functions in our global headquarters in Singapore.”
Tyme said their strategy for the Philippines is “to embed digital banking in people’s everyday lives and make it an integral part of shopping and business experiences.”
“This is particularly important in a country with an unbanked population of over 70 percent. The build-phase is currently underway in the Philippines and Tyme is on track to launch in the third quarter of 2022. It is aiming to leverage its partnership with the Gokongwei Group,” the bank said.