Payments company Yoco has acquired Dyner.ai, a local start-up that builds AI-driven operations software for restaurants and other small businesses, for an undisclosed sum.
The deal appears to be Yoco’s first acquisition. It extends the company beyond card payments into software that handles inventory, supplier orders, margins and day-to-day reporting – areas where many small operators still lean on spreadsheets and manual stock counts.
Dyner was founded by Thalentha Ngobeni and Chris du Plessis, both former Discovery actuaries. Several of its customers, including Plato Coffee, are already Yoco merchants.
Yoco, which says it serves more than 200 000 merchants and has raised over US$170-million from investors including Dragoneer, Partech and TPG, described the purchase as part of a move from payments processor to a broader commerce platform spanning payments, point-of-sale, financial services and AI tools. Carl Wazen, the company’s co-founder and chief business officer, said the deal was part of a plan to build “a broader commerce platform” for independent businesses.
Yoco disclosed neither the price nor any figures on Dyner’s revenue, headcount or customer base, making it hard to gauge what it has bought beyond the founding team and their product. The company said Dyner would keep operating independently while its sales, support and operations were folded into Yoco over time. – © 2026 NewsCentral Media
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