South African payments startup Yoco is to launch in test markets in East and West Africa by the end of next year on the back of strong growth at home and a Series A funding round.
Launched in 2015, Yoco enables SMEs to accept card payments and provides card readers, and free point-of-sale and business intelligence tools to more than 10,000 South African small businesses, a landmark it reached this month.
The startup concluded a Series-A funding round in March, with chief executive officer (CEO) Katlego Maphai telling Disrupt Africa growth was now on the agenda.
The startup operates across South Africa, focusing mainly on Cape Town and Johannesburg, but now has ambitions to expand continent-wide.
“Groundwork for international expansion is underway, with ambitions to test markets in East and West Africa by the end of next year,” said Maphai.
Yoco – which sells card readers to its merchants and charges a percentage fee of transactions processed – is also targeting profitability within the next few month.
“We are on track to be in a position to be cashflow positive by 2018, we will likely choose to reinvest that for growth to solidify our position,” said Maphai.
