South African digital bank, TymeBank, has announced the proposed acquisition of Retail Capital, a fintech company that provides funding to Small and Micro Enterprises (SMEs) in South Africa, for an undisclosed amount. The deal is subject to regulatory approval.
Retail Capital provides funding to SMEs through a 3-step online application process. In the last 10 years, the startup claims to have provided more than 43,000 business owners with R5.5 billion (~$326 million) in working capital.
Commenting on the deal, TymeBank CEO, Coen Jonker, mentioned that the acquisition will enable TymeBank to expand its offering to entrepreneurs to include working capital finance.
“Retail Capital has acquired significant risk management experience over the past decade and through different economic cycles. They have an experienced team in place and their risk models and operational processes have been battle-tested and optimised to a significant degree for small-business funding,” he added.
For Retail Capital, CEO Karl Westvig stated that the fintech startup already powers many industry-leading partners in the acquiring, retail and payments space to support their SME customers. He also said that the acquisition by TymeBank will further enhance this offering to their partners’ customers.
“Both Retail Capital and TymeBank have the customer front of mind, and we see the strategic move as a positive one that will greatly assist all business owners in South Africa,” he concluded.
TymeBank claims to have over 100,000 customers and includes offerings like a transactional business account that can be opened in under 5 minutes, zero monthly bank fees, as well as free debit card and online purchasing transactions.
The digital bank, majority owned by billionaire entrepreneur Patrice Motsepe’s African Rainbow Capital, also announced the launch of TymePOS, a mobile point-of-sale app for Android that turns an NFC-enabled cellphone into a tap-and-go payment device that offers next-day settlement.
It also teased the imminent launch of “SellOnSocial”, a web-based e-commerce app, which will be bundled with a delivery service, that will make it easy for small merchants to sell their wares on Facebook and Instagram.
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