Tyme Group, a digital lender controlled by South African billionaire Patrice Motsepe, is considering entering Vietnam as early as next year in an ambitious expansion plan, months after securing almost $78 million from a pre-series C funding round.
“It’s one of those markets that is almost like a perfect fit for a business like ours,” Coen Jonker, co-founder of Tyme and chief executive officer of TymeBank, said in an interview. The Southeast Asian country is “chronically underserved,” with many small businesses having little or no access to capital, he added.
Vietnam is the second Asian nation Singapore-headquartered Tyme Group is betting on to power its own growth, after having made its debut in the Philippines last year. Vietnam’s $366 billion economy is young and fast-growing with low levels of unemployment, Jonker said.
Majority owned by Motsepe’s African Rainbow Capital, Tyme Group operates as Tyme Bank in South Africa, where it
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