Yoco raises R230 million to grow network of business merchants

JOHANNESBURG – South African-based point of sale payments provider Yoco said this week it had raised a Series B round of US$16 million or roughly R230 million lead by Partech, a venture capital firm based in Silicon Valley, Europe and Africa, which it would leverage to grow its network of small business merchants and invest in product development.

This brings to US$23 million or R322 million the total investment of Yoco, which builds tools and services to help small businesses accept card payments and manage their day to day activities.

Since launching its first product in late 2015, a card reader that connects with a merchant’s smartphone or tablet, the company has grown its base to over 27,000 South African small businesses, 75 percent of which had never accepted cards previously. 

The company said it was adding more than 1,500 new merchants every month, making it South Africa’s largest and fastest growing independent card payments provider by number of merchants, more than tripling in size since raising its latest funding in early 2017. It now processes over R3.5 billion in card transactions on an annualised basis.

“Only seven percent of South African small businesses accept card payments, despite South Africa having a card penetration of 75 percent,” it said.

“There are over one million small businesses in South Africa ripe for card acceptance. Yoco is closing this acceptance gap by making card payments more accessible through its trusted and secure platform.”

– African News Agency (ANA)