The Flip’s Post

This fintech recently became a unicorn. It took over 10 years, and a $250M Series D pushing their valuation to $1.5B. Here’s the story of how TymeBank went from idea to unicorn: In 2000, during a macroeconomics exam at GIBS Business School… Coenraad (Coen) Jonker, then an MBA student, read a review of Hernando de Soto's The Mystery of Capital and had an epiphany: Poverty in emerging markets wasn’t due to laziness but to "invisible capital"—assets ignored by the system. This realization sparked the idea for TymeBank. Coen saw how banking could unlock financial empowerment. He joined the corporate world, became CEO of a law firm, and later spent five years at Standard Bank. But the system wasn’t built to help the underserved. To create real change, he’d need to start from scratch. In 2012, Coen teamed up with Tjaart van der Walt and Rolf Eichweber to create Tyme: Take Your Money Everywhere. With little capital, they didn’t start a bank right away. Instead, they built tools for retailers, telcos, and smaller banks. By 2015, their work caught the attention of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA). CBA acquired Tyme, renamed it TymeDigital, and used its tech to apply for a South African banking license. In 2017, TymeDigital made history as SA's first new bank in 18 years. But things didn’t stay smooth for long. In 2018, CBA exited international markets, leaving TymeDigital up for grabs. Patrice Motsepe stepped in. His African Rainbow Capital (ARC) bought TymeDigital, rebranded it as TymeBank, and set the stage for its November 2018 launch. TymeBank became SA’s first fully digital bank: No branches, just kiosks inside Pick n Pay and Boxer stores. Their big idea? Low-cost banking for the masses. The idea resonated. With tiered accounts, customers could start with minimal paperwork and later upgrade by adding biometrics or addresses. The result? Banking that anyone, regardless of income, could access. By 2019, TymeBank hit 1 million customers. Their strategy? A cloud-based core banking platform that slashed costs and passed savings to users. The kiosks were genius, turning stores into branch alternatives and leveraging Pick n Pay’s massive footprint. But TymeBank’s vision wasn’t limited to South Africa. In 2017, they launched TymeGlobal, their international arm. TymeBank entered Southeast Asia, launching GoTyme in the Philippines, planning expansion in Vietnam, and rolling out kiosks in Indonesia and New Zealand. By 2023, TymeBank reached profitability with over 10M customers in SA and 5M in the Philippines. Then, in December 2024, came their biggest milestone: A $1.5 billion valuation after a $250M Series D led by Nubank—Latin America’s largest digital bank. -------------------- Want more insights and stories from entrepreneurs around the continent to help make building easier? Subscribe to our newsletter: https://lnkd.in/dFw3dXe