Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) contribute heavily to the economic success of many countries, particularly those in the developing world. They are

South African payments startup Yoco raises $83M Series C backed by Dragoneer

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2021-07-27 11:00:10

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) contribute heavily to the economic success of many countries, particularly those in the developing world. They are the backbone of most economies: Globally, SMEs represent about 90% of existing businesses and create more than 50% of employment.

In South Africa, these businesses contribute around one-third of the country’s GDP. Last year, the coronavirus pandemic threatened the existence of some of these SMEs, and its effects linger as owners worry about revenue, sales and cash flow.

Since launching in 2013, South African fintech Yoco has positioned itself as the go-to platform to access offline payments among merchants in the country. Today, the company is announcing $83 million in Series C funding to scale offline and online offerings and expand to new markets.

Despite South Africa’s high card and mobile penetration rates of over 70%, the country’s SMEs still struggle to accept cards. Yoco’s portable card machines have proved masterful in solving this problem; when TechCrunch covered the company three years ago after its $16 million Series B raise, it had little over 30,000 merchants using its platform. Now, that number has quintupled.

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