---
title: "Wayra"
description: "Wayra is the corporate venture capital arm and open innovation platform of Telefónica, focused on investing in technology startups and connecting them with the Telefónica group and other organizations. It operates across multiple hubs in Europe and Latin America and positions itself as a strategic investor that combines capital with venture client opportunities. In Africa, Wayra has participated in early stage and growth funding rounds, with activity recorded between May 2014 and February 2019. Over this period, it joined three funding rounds totaling 9.6 million dollars, primarily at the seed stage and once at Series A. Within Africa its investments have focused on South Africa and Nigeria, backing companies in marketing, customer relationship management, and financial technology. Wayra’s African portfolio in the available records includes Yoyo Rewards, a South Africa based marketing and CRM platform that runs digital vouchers, gift cards, and card linked loyalty programs, and Reloadly, a Nigeria based fintech that provides a single API for gift cards, airtime top ups, and payouts. These investments were made alongside other institutional investors and reflect Wayra’s interest in digital commerce, customer engagement, and financial infrastructure solutions."
canonical_url: "https://liners.com/investors/wayra"
markdown_url: "https://liners.com/investors/wayra.md"
type: "investor"
language: "en"
updated_at: "2026-08-28T03:01:06.622Z"
---

# Wayra

Wayra is the corporate venture capital arm and open innovation platform of Telefónica, focused on investing in technology startups and connecting them with the Telefónica group and other organizations. It operates across multiple hubs in Europe and Latin America and positions itself as a strategic investor that combines capital with venture client opportunities. In Africa, Wayra has participated in early stage and growth funding rounds, with activity recorded between May 2014 and February 2019. Over this period, it joined three funding rounds totaling 9.6 million dollars, primarily at the seed stage and once at Series A. Within Africa its investments have focused on South Africa and Nigeria, backing companies in marketing, customer relationship management, and financial technology. Wayra’s African portfolio in the available records includes Yoyo Rewards, a South Africa based marketing and CRM platform that runs digital vouchers, gift cards, and card linked loyalty programs, and Reloadly, a Nigeria based fintech that provides a single API for gift cards, airtime top ups, and payouts. These investments were made alongside other institutional investors and reflect Wayra’s interest in digital commerce, customer engagement, and financial infrastructure solutions.

## Breadcrumbs

- [Investors](/investors)
- [Wayra](/investors/wayra)

## Summary

Wayra is the corporate venture capital arm and open innovation platform of Telefónica, focused on investing in technology startups and connecting them with the Telefónica group and other organizations. It operates across multiple hubs in Europe and Latin America and positions itself as a strategic investor that combines capital with venture client opportunities. In Africa, Wayra has participated in early stage and growth funding rounds, with activity recorded between May 2014 and February 2019. Over this period, it joined three funding rounds totaling 9.6 million dollars, primarily at the seed stage and once at Series A. Within Africa its investments have focused on South Africa and Nigeria, backing companies in marketing, customer relationship management, and financial technology. Wayra’s African portfolio in the available records includes Yoyo Rewards, a South Africa based marketing and CRM platform that runs digital vouchers, gift cards, and card linked loyalty programs, and Reloadly, a Nigeria based fintech that provides a single API for gift cards, airtime top ups, and payouts. These investments were made alongside other institutional investors and reflect Wayra’s interest in digital commerce, customer engagement, and financial infrastructure solutions.

## Recorded investments

| Product | URL | Stage | Amount | Date |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Yoyo Rewards | /yoyo-rewards | Seed | 5000000 | 2015-03-01T00:00:00.000Z |
| Yoyo Rewards | /yoyo-rewards | Seed | 3800000 | 2014-05-01T00:00:00.000Z |

## Related pages

- [All investors](/investors)
- [Funding rounds](/funding)

## Access and citation

- [Canonical HTML page](https://liners.com/investors/wayra)
- [Markdown route index](/sitemap.md)
- [Agent access guide](/llms.txt)