Yoco, a South African fintech company, has announced that it has acquired Dyner.ai, an AI-native operating system designed for independent businesses and restaurants. This is another step in the company’s evolution from a payments company to a more comprehensive platform for independent businesses’ operations and commerce.
Yoco creates products and services to assist small businesses with managing their daily operations, obtaining loans, and taking card payments both in-person and online. Over 200,000 small businesses in South Africa now use the startup as their preferred payment partner, handling over US$1 billion in card payments annually.
After obtaining US$83 million in Series C funding in 2021, the company has now acquired Dyner, which has discreetly developed an intelligent operating system for restaurants that streamlines daily management, inventory, reporting, supplier workflows, and margins. There is a natural alignment between Yoco and Dyner because many of Dyner’s clients, such as Plato Coffee, are already Yoco merchants.
Before starting Dyner, Thalentha Ngobeni and Chris du Plessis, the company’s founders, were actuaries who worked at Discovery in Adrian Gore’s Office and Discovery Invest, respectively. Dyner’s approach to developing intelligent software for the intricacies of managing restaurants was influenced by their background in strategy, systems, operations, and analytics.
“From our earliest conversations, it was clear that we shared a deep belief in the importance of independent businesses to the South African economy and the role technology can play in helping them thrive,” said Carl Wazen, co-founder and chief business officer at Yoco.
“What impressed us most was not only the quality of the product, but the speed, intensity and ambition with which the Dyner team immersed themselves in the realities of running a restaurant and built their product alongside their customers.”
Over the next ten years, Yoco thinks AI will significantly change how independent businesses function by assisting owners in lowering operational complexity, spotting significant trends early, automating tedious tasks, and making better decisions.
“As was the case with digital payments and previous technology waves, the earliest benefits of AI are largely prioritised for affluent consumers and large enterprises,” Wazen said.
“Independent business owners are again left behind. At Yoco, we believe these businesses deserve access to the very best tools and infrastructure available, built for their unique context. Just as we helped democratise access to digital payments, we see a similar opportunity with AI.”
The Dyner team will continue to develop the platform on their own after joining Yoco, progressively incorporating go-to-market, operational, and support capabilities into Yoco’s larger platform and merchant ecosystem. Through the partnership, Dyner will be able to take advantage of Yoco’s infrastructure, scale, and merchant reach in order to accelerate the adoption of AI across over 200,000 merchants and beyond.
This collaboration gives independent businesses access to intelligent tools that streamline operations, reveal crucial insights, and cut down on expensive inefficiencies, ultimately freeing up owners’ time to concentrate on providing meaningful experiences and customer service.
“We founded Dyner with the belief that independent businesses deserve the same quality of operational technology and intelligence historically reserved for large enterprises,” said Ngobeni. “After spending extensive time alongside restaurant operators, we are convinced that AI will fundamentally reshape how independent businesses operate over the next decade. Joining Yoco gives us the infrastructure, reach, and platform to accelerate that vision at a far greater scale.”
