Billionaire Patrice Motsepe’s GoTyme eyes $15 billion listing as it chases Capitec

GoTyme Bank, the South African digital lender backed by billionaire Patrice Motsepe, aims to more than double its customer base to 30 million by 2036 as it sets out to overtake Capitec as the country’s biggest bank by clients, Bloomberg reported.

The bank has 13 million customers, which makes it South Africa’s second-largest lender by that measure. Capitec had more than 26.6 million personal and business clients as of Aug. 31. Chief Executive Officer Cheslyn Jacobs said he wants to reach “one in two South Africans as customers.”

The new target comes days after GoTyme said it had passed 13 million customers and more than doubled net customer loans to R5.08 billion ($304.7 million).

GoTyme is also preparing for a stock market listing. Jacobs told Bloomberg that market conditions will decide the timing and the valuation, and that the bank’s benchmark is a valuation above $15 billion. He did not disclose its current value. As long as the bank keeps hitting its milestones, it will probably be ready to list in three to five years, he said.

That benchmark is 10 times the $1.5 billion at which the group’s global operations were valued in 2024, after a funding round that included a $150 million investment from Nu Holdings, the Brazilian digital bank.

In the meantime, GoTyme is leaning on its partnership with Sanlam, Africa’s largest insurer. Under the arrangement, both companies will take deposits and offer unsecured personal loans and life cover as soon as next year. Sanlam, which has 9 million customers, expects 2 million to 4 million banking clients by 2030 and sees its loan book growing to R10 billion ($600 million) from R6 billion ($360 million) in 2025.

Competition is building as well. Pepkor Holdings, Africa’s largest clothing and mobile-phone retailer, is preparing to launch an independent lender as early as next year and plans to use its more than 6,000 South African stores to support it. Jacobs pointed out that Pepkor already sells a million smartphones a month and knows its customers well.

Bloomberg described GoTyme as majority owned by Motsepe’s African Rainbow Capital Investments. Billionaires.Africa reported last week that African Rainbow Capital holds about 40% of the Singapore-based parent, Tyme Group, making it the largest shareholder. China’s Tencent Holdings is also a backer.

Across South Africa and the Philippines, where it runs a joint venture with the Gokongwei Group, the group has more than 23 million customers and signs about 400,000 new clients a month. It also operates in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Vietnam and Singapore.

Motsepe, 64, built his fortune in mining through African Rainbow Minerals and is president of the Confederation of African Football. He is worth $3.3 billion and ranks 12th in Africa, according to the November ranking of Africa’s richest billionaires.