TYME GROUP has received a $250-million investment from a group of compnies led by Brazil-based digital bank Nubank (Nu), which will help fund its expansion in Asia, including GoTyme Bank.

“Nubank will become a 10% shareholder in Tyme Group. The total amount raised is $250 million, which is actually the largest fintech raise in Southeast Asia this year,” GoTyme Bank President and Chief Executive Officer Nathaniel D. Clarke told BusinessWorld in an interview last week.

“A lot of that funding will help hypercharge our growth here and get us to profitability…  We now have the ammo to fulfill that vision of becoming the largest everyday retail bank here,” Mr. Clarke said.

GoTyme Bank is a partnership between the Gokongwei Group, which holds a 60% stake, and Singapore-based Tyme Group, which has 40%. Tyme Group also operates TymeX in Vietnam, India and China and digital bank TymeBank in South Africa.

“Nu’s investment in Tyme Group will benefit GoTyme Bank Philippines and TymeBank South Africa, bringing not only capital to support growth but also expertise in lending solutions and impact product creation,” GoTyme Bank said in a statement.

“We are excited with the partnership with Nubank, a global digital banking leader, as we believe this collaboration will further propel GoTyme Bank in the Philippines as well as accelerate Tyme Group’s growth and expansion across multiple markets,” JG Summit Holdings, Inc. President and Chief Executive Officer Lance Y. Gokongwei said.

The latest investment round brings Tyme Group to unicorn status as it now has a total valuation of $1.5 billion.

“Tyme’s oversubscribed Series D capital raise was led by Nu, which invested $150 million, with M&G’s Catalyst Fund subscribing for $50 million. Existing shareholders, including the Gokongwei Group, Tencent, British international Investment, Norrsken 22, Blue Earth, Lavender Hill, Ethos Fund, and Africa Fig Tree (Founders and Employees), are investing a further $50 million,” GoTyme Bank added.

“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, through their investment of financial resources and counsel. This is a moment of great significance for Tyme Group,” Coen Jonker, Tyme Group founder and CEO, said.

David Vélez, Nu founder and CEO, said their investment in Tyme Group is in line with their belief that the future of financial services globally is in digitally native companies.

“We have met dozens of teams across different geographies, and we think that Tyme Group is extremely well-positioned to be one of the digital bank leaders in Africa and Southeast Asia. We are excited to work with Tyme to share many of our learnings of scaling this model to hundreds of millions of customers,” he added,

CREDIT EXPERTISEThe partnership between Tyme and Nu will bring additional resources and expertise to GoTyme Bank that would propel its growth, the digital bank said.

Mr. Clarke said that in particular, Nubank will bring expertise in credit cards.

“That’s actually how they’re different than us. We started on the transactional, deposit, and savings side. They started with credit card and then only got a bank’s license later. So, they were born very credit-led,” he said. “So, they’ll be helping us, advising us, potentially helping on capability on credit.”

“They’re quite excited about our model. They believe that digital banks around the world are going to be the winners in everyday banking. But they have made the decision that they don’t have the operational capability to stretch across the other side of the world. So, they’re going to focus on the Americas organically. But they feel like there’s good investment and synergy to invest in Asia,” Mr. Clarke said.

Nu also brings in focus on long-term and sustainable growth, he added, prioritizing customer acquisition and getting scale.

GoTyme Bank is one of the six digital lenders licensed by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. The others are Tonik Digital Bank, Inc.; Maya Bank; Overseas Filipino Bank; UNObank; and UnionDigital Bank. — Aaron Michael C. Sy