Dealflow | July 28, 2021

South African fintech Yoco raises $83 million for small-business lending

Roodgally Senatus
ImpactAlpha Editor

Roodgally Senatus

ImpactAlpha, July 28 — The Cape Town-based platform provides digital payments and other financial services to more than 150,000 small business owners in South Africa.

The financing will help Yoco expand internationally to reach its goal of one million small business customers within four years. “There are still millions of small businesses in South Africa and well over 100 million across the Middle East and Africa that still transact only in cash,” the company wrote on LinkedIn. 

Inclusive fintech

Yoco’s new investors include Dragoneer Investment Group, 4DX Ventures and global tech executives from Spotify and Coinbase. Existing investors, such as FMO and Quona Capital, also participated.

Quona, through its $144 million Accion Frontier Inclusion Fund, is an early backer (see, “Quona focuses on customers for inclusive fintech in emerging markets).

Access to capital

Johannesburg-based data fintech startup Akiba Digital, which facilitates loans for small businesses and individual borrowers, raised $1.1 million in pre-seed financing.