GOTymeBank | Apis Partners

GOTymeBank

Invested March, 2021

Profile

GOTymeBank is one of the world’s fastest-growing digital banks, on-boarding between 110,000 and 120,000 clients per month. The bank is designed to meet the needs of under-served and under-serviced South African banking customers. The bank’s vision is to create a platform that stimulates economic participation and facilitates broader financial inclusion. GOTymeBank is majority owned by African Rainbow Capital (ARC) which was founded by Dr. Patrice Motsepe, making it South Africa’s first majority black-owned bank.


GOTymeBank has formed a long-term strategic partnership with Pick n Pay and Boxer stores, allowing its customers to bank where they shop, at Pick n Pay and Boxer stores around the country. The GOTymeBank EveryDay transactional account is quick and easy to open. Customers can open a fully FICA-compliant bank account and receive their personalised Visa debit card at a TymeBank kiosk in under five minutes, or they can open an account via the GOTymeBank website.

Fund

Apis Growth Fund II

Headquarters

Johannesburg, South Africa

Region

Southern Africa

Sector

Financial Services

Sub-sector

Banking

No documents are required to open an account – customers just need their South African ID number and cellphone. The FICA (Financial Intelligence Centre Act) process is completed through the capture and verification of biometric and other data at the kiosk. Once the kiosk issues customers with their Visa debit card, they can transact straight away.

When signing up, customers can automatically join the Pick n Pay Smart Shopper platform and get all the benefits of one of the largest rewards programmes in the country. In a South African first, GOTymeBank customers earn Smart Shopper points everywhere they use their debit card, not just in Pick n Pay stores.

The GOTymeBank account comes with a unique savings tool called GoalSave. It attracts no fees or penalties and is simple to use. Customers can create individual savings goals, name them, and earn as much as 7% interest per annum.

Tyme was born from a passion for economic inclusion and social transformation. We love to see people reach their full potential, and we believe that the financial services industry can do more to support them. So we started with an idea – what if we could give people the tools and capital they need to participate fully in the economy; what if we gave them the tools and access to capital where they work and live, in a way they understand and at a cost they can afford? We believe that starting from this idea will create opportunities for many people who, with the right support, can transform their potential into reality.

Apis is an investor for entrepreneurs who believe they can be better than they are today and who are willing to be challenged and encouraged to become world class competitors in their chosen disciplines. If you have this mindset, Apis offers a rewarding and highly engaged partnership opportunity. It has been clear to us from the start that the Apis team care as much about creating exceptional transformational businesses as they do about creating exceptional shareholder returns. Apis has the industry knowledge in digital financial services and the investment expertise in emerging markets to help the right teams create both these outcomes.

In five years GOTyme would like to still be doing what we do today – designing, building and commercialising digital banks that contribute to industry transformation and the economic inclusion of millions of people and small businesses. In five years, we hope we will have done this in a few more countries for a lot more people.

Co-Founder and Executive Chairman, Tyme

“I think of the Apis team as our coach. We want our business to become a world class athlete, to perform at our peak, to outperform the competition. APIS has consistently contributed to make us better by being supportive and thoughtful but also tough and exacting in their expectations. Their support has helped us in areas spanning product development, performance monitoring, talent acquisition, deal negotiations and capital raising. Thank you Apis!”

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