Yoco turns 10: From Access Pioneer to Product-Driven Innovator

Local fintech company Yoco marks a significant milestone in its journey this year as the company marks 10 years since its official launch. With over 200,000 active merchants and more than R60 billion in transactions processed, the company reflects on a decade defined by a simple mission to simplify and provide access to digital payments solutions.

In its inception, the company set out to solve a critical challenge - how to make card machines as easy to obtain as mobile phones. By enabling online ordering and nationwide delivery, even to underserved areas, the company removed a longstanding barrier that had kept many small businesses on the outskirts of the digital payments space.

“We came in with this simple idea that getting a card machine should be as simple as getting a mobile phone,” said co-founder Katlego Maphai in a media briefing today. “Simplifying things meant that we could create access.”

According to Maphai, 80% of Yoco’s customer base had never accepted a card payment before joining the platform. This onboarding effort of small businesses into the digital economy has become the foundation of what Yoco calls its ‘Access Age’ – a period defined by bringing inclusive, affordable technology to the forefront of commerce.

Now, 10 years later, the company is moving into its next chapter: the ‘Product Age’. Yoco says it's shifting focus from enabling access to deepening value for its customers through integrated digital solutions.

“Now it’s really about what comes next in the market. It’s about solutions—being able to do more for these customers and solve more of their problems,” Maphai said.

Yoco sees a growing need for tools that enhance operational efficiency, streamline admin, and support the growth of small businesses. The company is positioning itself to meet that need through technology that reduces time spent on what it describes as “non-value adding activities”— tasks that take business owners away from what really matters: serving customers, improving products, and growing revenue.

“We want to give our customers back time. Technology should take care of admin so they can focus on value-adding activities," adds Maphai.

Yoco’s impact extends beyond digital payments. The company has disbursed over R4 billion in working capital to its customers— cementing its commitment to its broader role in supporting small businesses resilience and expansion.

As it embarks on its next phase, Yoco remains driven by its founding spirit of innovation, simplicity, and customer empowerment. “We’re excited about what’s coming next. It’s really about the future of commerce and bringing everything together into something innovative for our customers,” Maphai concluded.

*Yoco will unveil its new offerings at its showcase next week