Yoco Capital, the embedded finance arm of Yoco, South Africa’s leading SME-focused fintech platform, is getting fresh financing to back the dreams of South African entrepreneurs through fast and flexible funding solutions.

CAPE TOWN, South Africa, November 9, 2026. Yoco, South Africa’s leading fintech powering 200,000 small and independent businesses, today announced a $100 million credit facility from Victory Park Capital (“VPC”), a leading global alternative investment firm specializing in private credit and asset-backed finance, to fund Yoco Capital, a flexible automated funding solution for Yoco’s merchants. It is one of the largest dedicated merchant cash advance raises in Africa, and it gives Yoco direct control over that financing layer for the first time at scale.

Yoco has been advancing capital to South African entrepreneurs since 2018 in partnership with dedicated SME credit providers, disbursing more than R6.5 billion in working capital to over 40,000 merchants. In that time, Yoco has not recorded a single unprofitable cohort, including through Covid-19, a track record that speaks to the strength of pairing capital with real-time payments data.

There is no application to fill in. Because a merchant’s business already runs on Yoco, Yoco Capital works in the background and the offer appears in their Yoco app. Merchants are pre-approved based on their live sales data across their in-person and online payments volumes, no collateral required. Funds land in their account instantly within a single click, and repayment happens automatically through small deductions of the business’s daily takings rather than a fixed monthly repayment schedule.

Advances range from as low as R2,000 to R1.5 million. Merchants typically use this funding to hire more staff, get stocked up ahead of busy season, upgrade their equipment, or open a new branch.

“We’ve spent a decade building an operating system that runs a merchant’s whole business, payments, point of sale, and now the decisions in between. Financing was the one layer we didn’t fully control. This facility changes that,” said Carsten Holtkemeyer, CEO of Yoco.

“The offer simply appeared in my Yoco app. I never had to apply or go looking for funding, and that saved me valuable time. I run my business on my own, with no time to leave my clients. It has been a real safety net for me and my team,” said Aubrey Williams, owner of Karoo Creations.

South Africa’s small business financing gap sits at roughly R350 billion, according to the 2025 Finfind and African Bank SA MSME Access to Finance Report. SMEs collectively receive just 13% of bank lending nationally, versus 51% going to large corporations. Closing that gap matters now more than ever: independent businesses are under real pressure in the current economy, and unlocking working capital at scale is one of the clearest levers to stimulate growth.

VPC has well over a decade of fintech lending pedigree. Since 2007, VPC has invested over $12 billion across approximately 260 investments worldwide, as of September 1, 2026.

“Yoco has a proven track record of supporting the operating needs of small and independent businesses,” said Jason Brown, Senior Partner, Victory Park. “We’re supportive of Yoco’s mission to expand access to flexible financing solutions for South African entrepreneurs.”

Yoco will continue to partner with funding providers where that’s the right structure for a given product or market. Owning pricing and risk on its own book flows straight back into improving the merchant proposition and experience.

Yoco has been on a deliberate transformation from payments platform to AI-powered operating system, following a wave of product updates unveiled at Yoco Next earlier this year and the acquisition of Dyner. It has also cut the fees merchants pay by R250 million a year.

The aim is the same everywhere: help businesses grow, save time and save money by bringing everything into one place. Capital is another way to do just that.

Looking ahead, the facility opens the door to more than just a bigger working capital book. Every swipe, tap and sale on Yoco’s platform feeds a live picture of how a business is actually performing, data no bank statement or credit bureau can match. That data advantage, built up over a decade of powering South African merchants, means new kinds of funding products, tailored to specific merchant segments and moments in a business’s life, are now possible. More funding means more trading through Yoco, which sharpens that picture and makes every offer better. It’s a meaningful step toward closing South Africa’s credit gap from the inside, not around it.

Yoco plans to use the facility to scale Yoco Capital’s reach, extending funding to more of its 200,000+ merchants across retail, hospitality and services.

About Yoco

Yoco is a South African fintech building the operating system for independent businesses, giving merchants the tools to get paid, run their business and access funding. Founded in 2015, Yoco serves more than 200,000 merchants with card machines, point-of-sale software and Yoco Capital, its embedded finance platform.

About Victory Park Capital Advisors, LLC

Victory Park Capital Advisors, LLC (“VPC” or the “Firm”) is a global alternative asset manager that specializes in private credit and asset-backed finance. The Firm also offers structured financing and capital markets solutions through its affiliate platform, Triumph Capital Markets. Founded in 2007 and headquartered in Chicago, VPC became a majority-owned affiliate of Janus Henderson Group in 2024, gaining access to the firm’s 2,000+ employees across offices in 27 cities worldwide. Victory Park Capital is a Registered Investment Advisor with the SEC. Registration with the SEC does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Triumph Capital Markets (TCM) is a U.S. registered broker-dealer and operates solely within the United States. It is not registered to conduct securities business in any other jurisdiction. For more information, please visit www.victoryparkcapital.com.

Media Contact

Victory Park Capital, Janus Henderson

Candice Sun

Candice.Sun@janushenderson.com