South African payments company Yoco hires former Solaris and Barclays executive Carsten Höltkemeyer as CEO

The German banking executive takes over from a co-CEO arrangement that has led the company since founding CEO Katlego Maphai's departure nine months ago

Yoco, a South African fintech company that provides card payment terminals, online payment processing, point-of-sale systems and business lending to small and independent merchants, has appointed Carsten Höltkemeyer as its new CEO. Höltkemeyer previously held leadership roles at Solaris, a German banking-as-a-service platform, Barclays and the Royal Bank of Scotland. He replaces the interim co-CEO structure of Lungisa Matshoba and Bradley Wattrus, who will return to their respective roles as Chief Product and Technology Officer and Chief Financial Officer once the transition is complete.

Yoco was founded in 2015 and built its business by providing card machines to small businesses across South Africa that previously had no way to accept electronic payments. The company now serves more than 200,000 merchants, processes over US$1 billion in card payments annually and has advanced billions in working capital to its merchant base. It raised US$83 million in Series C funding in 2021. Founding CEO Katlego Maphai stepped down approximately nine months ago.

The appointment signals a shift in what Yoco is building. The company described its first phase as focused on access, giving independent businesses their first card machine and the tools to participate in the economy. The next phase, according to Yoco, is about building an integrated platform that combines payments, point-of-sale, lending and business intelligence into a single system.

"Our goal is to give merchants an unfair advantage by leveraging advancements in AI, software, and financial technology and making them available to independent businesses through a single, integrated platform that is simple and affordable," the company said.

Höltkemeyer said he had been drawn to Yoco by the scale of the opportunity and the clarity of its purpose. "Independent businesses are the backbone of South Africa's economy, and Yoco has built something genuinely meaningful in service of them. I'm looking forward to listening, learning, and working alongside the team to build what comes next," he said.

Yoco's founding team remains in the company. Carl Wazen continues as Chief Business Officer and Maphai stays involved in strategy as co-founder. The company framed the hire as adding operational scaling experience to a leadership team that will continue to drive product development internally.

"The mission, enabling people to thrive, does not change. The spirit of Yoco, built by entrepreneurs, for entrepreneurs, does not change. We now have more ability to deliver on this mission at the scale the next decade demands," the company said.