South African fintech company Yoco has announced the acquisition of Dyner, an AI-native operating system built for restaurants and independent businesses — marking another step in its evolution from a payments company into a broader commerce and operations platform for small businesses.
Yoco builds tools and services to help small businesses accept card payments in-store and online, access loans and manage day-to-day operations. The startup has become the preferred payments partner for more than 200,000 small businesses across South Africa, processing more than $1 billion in card payments per year. The company secured $83 million in Series C funding in 2021.
Dyner has quietly built an intelligent operating system for restaurants that simplifies inventory, supplier workflows, reporting, margins and daily management. Many of Dyner’s customers, including Plato Coffee, are already Yoco merchants — creating a natural alignment between the two companies.
Dyner was founded by Thalentha Ngobeni and Chris du Plessis, both actuaries who previously worked at Discovery — Ngobeni within Adrian Gore’s Office and du Plessis at Discovery Invest — before founding the company. Their experience across strategy, systems, operations and analytics shaped Dyner’s approach to building intelligent software for the complexity of running restaurants.
“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.”
Yoco believes AI will fundamentally reshape how independent businesses operate over the coming decade by helping owners reduce operational complexity, identify trends earlier, automate repetitive work and make 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.”
Under the acquisition, the Dyner team will continue building the platform independently while gradually integrating go-to-market, operational and support capabilities into Yoco’s broader platform and merchant ecosystem. The partnership will allow Dyner to leverage Yoco’s infrastructure, scale and merchant reach to accelerate AI adoption across more than 200,000 merchants and beyond. For independent businesses, the deal promises access to intelligent tools that simplify operations, surface insights and reduce inefficiencies — giving owners more time to focus on serving customers.
“We founded Dyner with the belief that independent businesses deserve the same quality of operational technology and intelligence historically reserved for large enterprises,” Ngobeni said. “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.”
