Yoco

Yoco is a Cape Town company set up by Katlego Maphai, Carl Wazen, Bradley Wattrus and Lungisa Matshoba, which took its first card payment in 2014. It builds card machines and online payment tools for small South African businesses, and says more than 250,000 businesses took payments with it in the past year. The South African Reserve Bank designated Yoco Technologies a clearing system participant in December 2021, so it can acquire card payments itself. Since a March 2025 variation, Citibank's South African branch settles for it in place of Absa.

Most merchants start with a Yoco terminal (the Go, Neo or locally assembled Khumo) or with Tap to Pay on iPhone. Online, there are plug-ins for Shopify, WooCommerce and Wix, a Checkout API that sends shoppers to a Yoco-hosted page, payment links, a shareable payment page and invoices. Visa, Mastercard and American Express cards are accepted, including cards issued abroad, as are Apple Pay and Google Pay. Diners Club is not.

Pricing is public and quoted before VAT. On the free Core plan, cards cost 2.30% on the first R50,000 of monthly sales and international cards 3.20%, with local debit cards dropping to 1.35% above that level. The Plus (R249 a month) and Pro (R499 a month) plans cut the rates, down to 1.20% for debit cards, and online payments cost half a percentage point more than in-person ones. Sales are totalled at 19h00 and paid out at 05h00 the next business day, reaching the bank in one to two business days. Instant Payouts cost extra.

Yoco suits shops, salons, market traders and restaurants that want to take cards without a long contract or a monthly rental. It works with South African businesses and pays out in rand, so merchants selling across borders, or needing local methods in other countries, will need another provider. Businesses taking more than R200,000 a month can ask for custom rates.