Philippine’s Tyme Group raises $150m in Series D from LATAM’s Nubank

By Gloria Mathias

Nubank, a digital financial services platform, has invested $150 million in Tyme Group, leading their Series D funding round.

The total investment round amounted to $250 million, with M&G Catalyst Fund subscribing for $50 million and existing shareholders with a further $50 million.

Tyme Group is one of the fastest-growing digital banks globally, with 15 million customers and operations in South Africa and the Philippines. With this investment, Nubank becomes a minority shareholder in Tyme Group.

“Since the beginning of Nubank, we have believed that the future of financial services globally is of digitally native companies. We have met dozens of teams across different geographies, and we think that Tyme Group is extremely well-positioned to be one of the digital bank leaders in Africa and Southeast Asia. We are excited to work with Tyme to share many of our learnings of scaling this model to hundreds of millions of customers,” said David Vélez, founder and CEO of Nubank.

Founded in 2019 in South Africa, Tyme Group operates under a hybrid model that combines a customer-centric digital platform with physical experiences, delivered in partnership with nationwide retailers through digital kiosks and bank ambassadors. With the objective of offering an affordable banking solution and maintaining a lower cost structure than traditional banks, Tyme Group has reached more than 15 million customers. The bank specialises in emerging market populations, and besides South Africa and the Philippines, it has a global headquarters in Singapore and a development hub in Vietnam, where it plans to open its subsequent operation.

“Nubank revolutionised financial services, and having them as a shareholder will help build rapport to our model, execution, and expansion plans, both financially and through business counsel. We are focused on improving the financial lives of millions of people in our region, and we are energised by this round of investments to keep pushing forward,” said Coen Jonker, Chairman and Co-Founder of Tyme.