Tyme Group hits unicorn status with $250M Series D led by Nubank
What's the deal? Tyme GroupDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, a Singapore-headquartered digital banking group serving 15 million customers across Africa and Southeast Asia, has raised $250 million in a Series D round that values it at $1.5 billion. Brazil's Nubank led with $150 million, while M&G's Catalyst Fund put in $50 million and existing shareholders added a further $50 million.
Who else is in? Tyme's investor base includes African Rainbow CapitalDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, Tencent, The Gokongwei GroupDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, British International Investment, Norrsken 22Dealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, Blue Earth, Lavender Hill Capital PartnersDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, the Ethos AI Fund, and Apis Growth Fund II.
What's the endgame? Tyme builds and operates low-cost digital banks for consumers and small businesses in emerging markets, with its main brands being TymeBank in South Africa and GoTyme BankDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → in the Philippines. The new capital is aimed at expansion across Southeast Asia, with Nubank bringing expertise in data analytics, credit risk, and product development.
What they're saying: "Nubank revolutionized financial services, and having them as a shareholder will help accelerate the development of our strategic capabilities, execution, and expansion plans in Southeast Asia," said Coen Jonker, Tyme Group's co-founder and chief executive officer.
Nubank founder and chief executive officer David Vélez added that his firm sees Tyme as "extremely well-positioned to be a digital bank leader in Africa and Southeast Asia."
By the numbers: The round ranks among the larger Series D deals in its category — above the 90th percentile for such rounds in artificial intelligence across Singapore, based on a sample of 220 comparable deals.
The signal: The round is a rare large-scale fintech raise for an Africa-linked digital bank, and a bet that Tyme can carry its low-cost model into new markets while converting customer growth into durable profits. With a potential 2028 listing cited, the Nubank partnership positions Tyme to test whether the playbook that scaled Latin America's biggest neobank can travel to emerging markets elsewhere.
Read more: startuprise.org
Image credit: Generated with Gemini
