Led by Havaic, this new investment will support Talk360’s mission of reaching seven million users by 2025 and advancing its path toward sustainable profitability.

“We’re incredibly proud of Talk360’s growth. Over the past two years, we’ve gone from connecting 2.3 million users to 4 million in 2023. This funding will help us continue our mission of connecting African migrant communities with their families back home,” says Hans Osnabrugge, co-founder and CEO of Talk360.

Talk360 is a leading South African and Dutch calling app that enables affordable international calls, requiring only the initiator to have the app and internet connectivity to reach any number globally. 

The business has garnered strong backing from investors. In 2022, Talk360 raised $7 million through two seed funding rounds, attracting investments from African venture capitalists and fintech angels across Europe and South Africa, including executives from Adyen and Mollie, as well as the founders of Tyme Bank.

After the raises, Talk360 sought to not only expand its user base among the African diaspora in the UK, US, and South Africa but also to explore the potential of establishing the first payment aggregator designed to streamline the payment experience across the fragmented African market and solve the challenge of failed payment attempts for both merchants and consumers.

“This payment platform has been exclusively used in-house to establish a strong foundation. The results have been exceptional, with an average 25% increase in payment conversion. We are strongly considering opening the platform to external merchants before Christmas 2024,” says Hans Osnabrugge.

The recent capital injection was based on the same $30 million+ valuation the company received in 2022 and amounted to $1 million from Havaic and an additional $400,000 from other investors. It comes at a time when the global venture capital landscape faces unprecedented challenges. 

“The additional funding will enable us to deliver on our next phase of growth to reach seven million people and achieve profitability across our global operations,” states Osnabrugge.

With the additional funds in place, Talk360 plans to localise into more African languages and set up more local and global partnerships with remittance companies, retailers, and brands.

“A better understanding of our audiences will also see the upcoming releases supporting languages such as Amharic and Portuguese. This talks to the significant demand of our Ethiopian customers and highlights our willingness to localise our solution where needed,” says Dean Hiine, co-founder and MD Africa at Talk360. 

“Talk360 has built trust within underserved communities by offering a solution that resonates with their unique needs. This new funding will help the business capitalise on that trust to create even more tailored solutions that deliver value at a local level.”

Havaic’s continued support of Talk360, despite the challenging economic conditions, underscores their strong confidence in the company’s future. 

“Talk360’s ability to navigate and succeed in challenging economic conditions speaks to the strength of its business model and clear vision. We are confident this latest round of funding will empower them to deepen their impact, especially in underserved communities across Africa,” says Ian Lessem, managing partner at Havaic.

Talk360 will leverage the funds to grow its market share in South Africa, drive its growth on the rest of the continent and launch its market first pan-African payment platform in 2023.

New South African investors who took part in the round were Allan Gray E2 Ventures (AGEV), Kalon Venture Partners, E4E Africa and Endeavor. Existing lead investor HAVAÍC and angel investors such as TymeBank’s Co-founders, Tjaart van der Walt and Coenraad Jonker, also participated.

In the past year, Talk360 has seen 167% growth in customers and 130% revenue growth, and has nearly doubled the number of calling minutes to and from South Africa, on the back of what it calls a ‘significantly improved’ distribution network.  

Founded in 2016 by Dutch entrepreneurs Hans Osnabrugge and Jorne Schamp and South African venture builder Dean Hiine, the company connected 2.3 million people worldwide so far this year. Hiine says it has doubled its headcount this year as it looks to aggressively grow the business.  

“Our mission is to bridge distance and connect lives by offering reliable, affordable, and easy-to-use digital services, delivered in a localised manner to all communities, particularly emerging countries, so they can connect to the world,” said Hiine. “But we’re not just solving socio-economic issues: we’re also offering micro-entrepreneurship and income generating opportunities to our growing network of agents across the country.” 

Talk360’s agent model in South Africa is key to its success, with agents earning cash for every customer referred. The company has seen a 33% growth in agents, bringing in over 800% more customers over the past year, as it looks to build micro-entrepreneurship, bring income opportunities & jobs to under serviced communities and grow its footprint. 

Clive Butkow, the CEO of Kalon, said the Talk360 team had ‘a wealth of experience’ in the communications space in South Africa and across the continent. “We’re excited to add this investment to the Kalon portfolio, and believe it has the potential to rapidly scale across Africa,” he said. 

Ian Lessem, managing partner at HAVAÍC, said the fact the initial seed round target was oversubscribed is a testament to Talk360’s remarkable traction to date and growth potential. 

“We invested more into Talk360 based on its strong progress in the South African market to date, as well as its potential in the rest of Africa. Since our first investment, the company has shown spectacular growth, and a genuine ability to crack the challenge of distribution in Africa. We’ve seen the company convert users to paying customers by offering them relevant services, and making this accessible in an easy, affordable, reliable and trustworthy way,” said Lessem. 

Tjaart van der Walt said the Tyme founders were investing because Talk360 enables potentially millions of people in remote areas to make and receive calls more affordably. “We see this need for many years to come. We believe in the Talk360 team: they are passionate and purposeful, and can execute,” he said. 

Hiine expects Talk360’s growth to be further boosted when it launches its pan-African payment platform in 2023. The new platform will allow users across the continent to buy products and services using any currency and more than 160 payment methods. It will also be opened to other merchants. This year alone, Talk360 has added six new currencies, added African-specific payment methods such as OTT vouchers, and grown its partnerships with local solutions such as Kazang and Blu voucher.