Digitizing Payments at the Point of Sale in Africa: why Partech is investing in Yoco

Partech
Partech
Sep 6, 2018 · 2 min read

By Cyril Collon, General Partner at Partech

Yoco’s solution at a merchant

6 September 2018. Johannesburg, South Africa.

At Partech, we believe in the pertinence and value of small business software and services, especially when it comes to Africa. Since we first met Bradley, Carl, Katlego and Lungisa, we have been consistently impressed by their bold vision and their relentless determination to change the way African small businesses receive payment and manage their day-to-day activity.

Yoco’s product set and operational excellence explain how in just a few years, they became the clear leader in South Africa for card payments, Africa’s largest digital payments market, where they now serve more than 27,000 merchants. While we have seen leaders in that space emerge in the US and Europe, Africa remained a blue ocean. Consumer spending in Africa amounts to over $1.4 trillion, much of which is driven by small businesses, which were poorly served in terms of payment terminal and software for years: Yoco is now bridging this gap.

Yoco’s cofounders: Bradley Wattrus — Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Katlego Maphai — Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Carl Wazen — Chief Business Officer (CBO), Lungisa Matshoba — Chief Technology Officer (CTO)

Alongside other investors, (ODV, FMO, Quona and Velocity) we will actively support Yoco’s ambitious goals to keep its strong growth and expand in new countries. This round will be used to further develop Yoco’s platform to cover all the needs of small businesses and expand its footprint across South Africa and beyond.

Indeed, Yoco’s ambition to expand its activities outside South Africa including other African markets has been instrumental in our investment thesis as we are convinced their offer would be very appealing in many other countries thanks to its ease of use and attractive pricing.

We are excited to have Yoco as the second investment from our Africa fund as we lead this $16M round. Yoco’s ability to use technology to solve real problems for African small businesses at scale makes it a unique implementation of our investment strategy.

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Partech

A global investment platform for tech and digital companies with offices in #SanFrancisco, #Paris, #Berlin & #Dakar

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