TallOrder eyes global expansion with R47m capital raise

TallOrder, a local fintech company that builds software for point of sale machines used by small businesses, has raised R47m in new funding led by Investec.

TallOrder says the new funds will be used to grow the business, product development and a continued expansion beyond SA’s borders. 

TallOrder Solutions raised R47m in additional series A funding, taking the total raised to R80m since its founding in late 2014. The funds were raised from existing investors, including Investec Private Capital, and a consortium led by Africa-focused fintech investment firm Nurture Investment Management, and high net-worth individuals. 

This funding round is significant because most of the large capital raises in the start-up space in recent years were done through international backers. This is an African-funded round.

At the end of last year, Cape Town based Ozow — which specialises in online payments — received $48m (R746m) in funding, led by China’s Tencent. Tencent is among a raft of international companies joining the SA fintech wave. In the same month, Fidelity Management & Research Co, the world’s fourth-largest asset manager, led a funding round of almost R2bn for Jumo, a South African-based mobile financial services platform. 

Founded by veteran businessman Dana Buys and Tatenda Mutizwa, TallOrder specialises in developing cloud-based software for point of sale devices used by small businesses. Its software can be set up on Windows, iOS and Android-based devices, offering the ability to add on a fully integrated e-commerce store for businesses wanting to accept takeaway orders and offering deliveries.

Buys previously founded Workgroup Systems, the first SA company to have a distribution relationship with Microsoft post the sanctions era, and was chairperson of former JSE-listed technology firm FrontRange. 

Covid-19 has accelerated a move away from the fixed and local area network-based offerings of old, to cloud-based solutions which can be managed from anywhere. These solutions are faster and easier to set up and are generally billed on a monthly basis, which makes cloud offerings cheaper for small business.

“Developing a robust, feature-rich and widely adaptable cloud POS solution takes a lot of development effort, both in terms of money and time,” says Buys, who serves as the company’s CEO. “Investors have been keen to invest in the next generation of cloud-based point of sale systems, as the global market is vast and the growth opportunities massive”. 

“Our focus now moves to rapidly growing our local and global customer base,” he says.  

Buys says TallOrder has proven its fit in the market, with installations in businesses in SA, African markets including Uganda, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Botswana, and the Seychelles, and in Asian markets such as Indonesia.

The company says competing platforms and products, mainly from the US, “are payment processors at the core, while TallOrder has taken a merchant-centric approach,” as it offers integration with popular payment options including Standard Bank-backed SnapScan, Zapper, MasterCard’s MasterPass, Yoco, Thumbzup, MTN’s MoMo mobile money service, Innervation, African Resonance, Netcash, DPO and PayFast. 

African fintech companies have been attracting attention and capital for a number of years now, with international investors especially keen. While much of this capital has flowed to Nigerian start-ups such as Paystack — now valued at more than $1bn after Irish-American fintech company Stripe invested $200m in it two years ago — SA companies are now getting a piece of the action. 

gavazam@businesslive.co.za