The banking group, which claims more than 6 million customers in South Africa and the Philippines, believes the Vietnamese market is a perfect fit for its all-digital banking business model.

Tyme Group, the neo-bank majority-owned by South African billionaire Patrice Motsepe, plans to expand into Vietnam in 2024 after closing a $78 million fundraising round, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, May 23, citing a group executive.

"It’s one of those markets that is almost like a perfect fit for a business like ours," said Coen Jonker, co-founder of Tyme Group. "Vietnam is chronically underserved and many small businesses have little or no access to capital," he added, noting that the Southeast Asian country's economy is characterized by "rapid growth and low unemployment."

Majority-owned by Patrice Motsepe's investment holding company African Rainbow Capital, Tyme Group operates in South Africa under the name Tyme Bank. It also launched a fully digital bank called GoTyme Bank in the Philippines in 2022, in association with local company Gokongwei.

Tyme Group is adding  300,000 new customers per month in both markets, Jonker said. In January, the Group raised $78 million from a group of equity investors, including Norrsken22, an Africa-focused technology fund, and Blue Earth Capital, an impact investment firm.

The funds will, among other things, finance Tyme Group's expansion into new markets and strengthen its operations in South Africa and the Philippines, where the cumulative number of clients served has exceeded 6 million.