TallOrder, a developer of cloud-based point-of-sale (POS) solutions for the small and medium enterprise market, has raised R47 million in additional series A funding, to accelerate growth and product development.
The current round of funding was raised from existing investors, including Investec Private Capital, as well as a consortium led by Africa-focused fintech investment firm Nurture Investment Management.
With the new funds, TallOrder has now obtained R80 million in total funds raised since its founding in 2014.
The Cape Town-based start-up says the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated its growth prospects, as more businesses are moving from legacy local area network-based, on-premises offerings, to cloud-based solutions, which can be managed from anywhere, hence the need to scale up product development.
The start-up already has a strong footprint on the continent, with installations across SA, Uganda, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Botswana and Seychelles, and in Asian markets such as Indonesia.
“Our focus now moves to rapidly growing our local and global customer base,” says Dana Buys, CEO and co-founder of TallOrder.
“Developing a robust, feature-rich and widely adaptable cloud POS solution takes a lot of development effort, both in terms of money and time. Investors have been keen to invest in the next generation of cloud-based point-of-sale systems, as the global market is vast and the growth opportunities are massive.”
Buys notes TallOrder has taken a merchant-centric approach, as opposed to most US cloud POS providers that are payment processors at the core, offering integration with popular payment platforms such as SnapScan, Zapper, MasterPass, Yoco, ThumbzUp, MTN MoMo, Innervation, African Resonance, NetCash, DPO and PayFast.
TallOrder can be deployed on suitable Windows, iOS and Android devices, and add-ons include a fully-integrated e-store for those that want to accept take-away orders and offer free deliveries, he adds.
“For the Sub-Saharan Africa market, we had to build a cloud POS with solid offline capacity, as the continent’s internet tends to be slower, more expensive and less reliable than that of developed countries, where the cloud access is fast, cheap and always-on.
“We have focused on building deep integrations to the popular SME local cloud accounting systems from Xero and Sage, as well as to local loyalty and reward systems.”
“We are pleased to make this significant investment into what we believe is a category-defining software-as-a-service company alongside Dana and the existing shareholders,” comments Nurture Investment Management co-founder and managing partner Tatenda Mutizwa.
“We look forward to supporting the African − and ultimately global − expansion of TallOrder over the next few years.”
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