TechCentral spoke with TymeBank CEO Karl Westvig about Tyme Group's latest investment round, TymeBank’s ambitious growth plans in South Africa, and more. earlier this week announced it had raised US$250-million in a new funding round, turning it into a “unicorn” with a valuation of $1.5-billion, or about R27.5-billion. the parent of the world’s largest standalone digital bank that has 110 million customers in Brazil, Mexico and Colombia.
It invested $150-million of the $250-million raised by Tyme Group in the latest round. M&G’s Catalyst fund put in $50-million, while existing shareholders also invested $50-million, Tyme said. Its current backers include Tencent Holdings, Gokongwei Group and Norrsken22.Tyme Group is headquartered in Singapore but operates as TymeBank in South Africa, where it has notched up more than 10 million customers,about the Nu Holdings investment, TymeBank’s plans for South Africa and Tyme Group’s planned future listing in New York. This is an edited transcript of the discussion.We think so. Being based in Latin American, the time zones are significant for them to Asia, and it made more sense for them to say, “How do we get an option into Asia via another entity?”I don’t know if you are prepared to disclose this, but could you provide some insight into the sort of multiple that’s been attached to Tyme Group through this latest capital raise.So, our last raise was done at $970-million; this one is $1.25-billion, pre-money. So, it was a small uptick in the last round. At the end of the day, it was a willing buyer, willing seller discussion that took place. Multiple wise, the stage we’re in means using a net operating income (NOI) multiple. So, it’s going to be in the 5-10 range of NOI. We’re not yet at the profitability or PE (price-earnings multiple) stage.Understoo