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Digital bank Tyme completes US$180 million Series B round
Latest capital raise led by China's Tencent and UK impact investing fund CDC
Patricia Chiu 8 Dec 2021

Tyme, the international arm of Johannesburg, South Africa-headquartered TymeBank, has raised US$70 million in fresh funding, primarily from Chinese technology conglomerate Tencent.  Also participating in the funding round is CDC, the UK government-owned development and impact investing fund.

The latest funding completes Tyme’s US$180 million Series B capital raise, the group said in a statement. 

“This is a very welcome investment from Tencent and CDC,” says Tyme co-founder and executive chairman Coen Jonker. “It is a clear vote of confidence in our digital banking offering as well as our leadership teams in South Africa, Singapore, and the Philippines.”

GOTyme, the digital bank co-owned by Tyme and Philippine conglomerate Gokongwei Group, was one of the six entities that secured digital banking licences from the Philippines' central bank earlier this year.

In its statement, Tyme says the US$180 million it has raised will be used “to fund and grow TymeBank in South Africa and to fund GOTyme in the Philippines”.

GOTyme is set to launch in the Philippines in the third quarter of 2022, and is also looking into expanding overseas.

Tyme reiterates its strategy “to embed banking in people’s everyday lives”, especially in the Philippines, where over 70% of the population remains unbanked.

Digital banks, which have no physical branches, have been gaining popularity in the country in recent years, and especially during the pandemic, since onboarding new customers is done digitally and in a shorter time frame. 

Other than Tencent and CDC, Tyme’s Series B round also drew US$110 million in funds from Apis Growth Fund II, a private equity fund managed by Apis Partners LLP, and the Gokongwei’s JG Summit Holdings.

“The investments will enable Tyme to use its digital infrastructure to accelerate the rollout of financial services to TymeBank’s historic mass market customer base,” Tyme says. 

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