South African payments fintech Yoco has brought in a new global chief executive, appointing Carsten Höltkemeyer as CEO from 1 June 2026 in a move that signals a fresh phase for one of the country’s best-known startup success stories. The leadership change ends a nine-month interim period in which co-founders Bradley Wattrus and Lungisa Matshoba have been running the company as co-CEOs.
The appointment comes after founding CEO Katlego Maphai decided to step down in September 2025, closing a chapter that helped build Yoco from a local fintech startup into a major player in South Africa’s small-business payments market. As we understand it, the board and founders have spent months working through the transition, and the choice of Höltkemeyer reflects a clear intention to combine local roots with international operating experience.
Höltkemeyer is no stranger to demanding turnaround environments. He joins Yoco after serving as CEO of Solaris, the Berlin-based embedded finance group, from late 2022 to the end of 2025, where he was tasked with steering the business through a difficult reset. Before that, he spent 10 years leading Barclaycard Germany as market CEO, giving him deep experience in banking, payments and consumer finance across Europe.
For Yoco, that background matters. The company is no longer just a card machine business trying to win over corner shops and freelancers. It has become a broader financial technology platform serving merchants that want payments, software and finance in one place. Bringing in an external executive with banking and fintech credentials suggests the company is preparing for a more complex growth phase, both in South Africa and beyond.
Once Höltkemeyer has completed his onboarding, the company will reshuffle its top leadership team. Wattrus is set to move into the chief financial officer role, while Matshoba will take on the chief product and technology officer portfolio. Carl Wazen remains chief business officer, with responsibility for go-to-market strategy and commercial operations. Maphai will stay involved as a co-founder focused on strategic matters.
According to Yoco, Höltkemeyer will begin commuting to South Africa from 1 June, before making a full relocation from September 2026. That detail matters because it shows the company wants its new chief executive physically close to the market it serves, rather than leading remotely from Europe.
Yoco’s business has grown to a scale that few South African fintechs have reached. The company says it now serves more than 200 000 merchants, processes 30 million unique card taps a year, and has advanced billions of rand in capital to small businesses over the past decade. Those numbers place it firmly among the country’s most influential digital finance players.
Yoco CEO appointment signals the company’s next growth phase
The company says the next decade will be about more than payment acceptance. It believes AI and integrated software will help independent businesses gain a sharper edge in a market still dominated by banks and older technology platforms. For South African SMEs, that could mean more tools for selling, invoicing, stock management, lending and customer engagement in one ecosystem.
Wattrus and Matshoba said in a joint statement that Yoco was originally built to equip independent businesses with tools they deserved, but that the needs of those businesses have changed over time. “We started Yoco to give independent businesses the tools they deserved. A decade later, we’re fighting for the same people, but what they need has changed,” they said. “Carsten adds the experience and values to lead this next chapter with us.”
That statement is important because it hints at a wider strategy shift. Yoco is not just trying to process more card payments; it is trying to become a deeper operating layer for merchants. With more customer data, more software touchpoints and more financial products, the company is positioning itself as an infrastructure provider for the informal and formal economy alike.
Wazen also pointed to the strength of the company’s customer insight. He described Yoco’s merchant data as “a data layer no competitor can replicate”, a remark that underscores how valuable long-term transaction data has become in fintech. For a business like Yoco, understanding how small businesses trade, when they need cash, and how they grow can translate into better products and stronger lending decisions.
Maphai, for his part, framed the appointment as a collective decision among the founders. He said it was a “considered decision, made by all four of us”, and added that the founding team was united in the view that Höltkemeyer was the right person to guide the company forward. That kind of message is designed to reassure customers, investors and staff that the handover is deliberate rather than reactive.
Yoco was founded in 2013 and has since become one of South Africa’s biggest fintech success stories. The company’s rise has tracked the rapid digitisation of payments in the country, as consumers increasingly tap cards and phones instead of paying with cash. It also reflects the growing demand from small businesses for affordable, easy-to-use financial tools that go beyond basic point-of-sale devices.
The company’s fundraising history has also helped it scale. In 2021, Yoco raised US$83-million, then worth about R1.2-billion, in a Series C round led by Dragoneer Investment Group. That capital helped deepen its product range, moving it from card machines into online payments, point-of-sale software and financial services aimed at small and medium-sized businesses.
The bigger ambition, though, has always been wider than South Africa. Yoco has long signalled plans for broader African expansion, and a CEO with experience in European fintech and banking could be useful as the company navigates new markets, regulations and product requirements. In a sector where execution matters as much as vision, leadership depth can make the difference between growing fast and growing sustainably.
For now, the key story is one of continuity with a sharper international edge. Yoco is keeping its founders close, promoting from within, and bringing in an outsider who has already handled pressure at scale. As we reported earlier, the company’s next chapter will be defined by whether it can turn its merchant base, data and software stack into a lasting competitive moat. If Höltkemeyer can translate his European experience into South African market realities, Yoco may well be entering its most important phase yet.