No More Paying First and Hoping
Yalla is a South African livestock marketplace built around settlement, not listings. The name is Arabic for “let’s go”.
Our Mission
Livestock has always changed hands on trust. At a physical auction that trust is underwritten by the auctioneer — but it costs you a date, a drive, ramps, trailers, and a sale day chosen by someone else.
Away from the ring, the trust disappears entirely. Trade moved to WhatsApp groups and classifieds, which are fast and free and completely unprotected. The buyer pays first and hopes.
Yalla was built to keep the protection and drop the constraints — settlement you can rely on, without the date or the drive.
Why “Yalla”
Yalla is Arabic for “let’s go”. It is already in everyday use across South Africa, crosses language lines easily, and is short enough to say over a bakkie radio.
The name is meant to sound like the moment a deal is agreed and everyone gets moving — which is exactly the point at which most livestock trades have historically become risky.
Where We’re Going
Smartphone use among farmers has grown steadily, helped along by cheaper data. Browsing and buying on a phone is now normal in rural South Africa, not novel. That is what makes this possible now rather than five years ago.
Yalla launches across a broad agricultural basket rather than one category, because farmers do not buy along category lines. Livestock first, then the feed, implements, fencing and services that travel with it.
Inside Yalla
A small team working close to the people who actually load the trucks — because a bad settlement process costs a smallholder more than it costs us.
What we hold to
Six things that shape how Yalla is built, and that we would not quietly trade away.
Settlement First
The listing was never the hard part. Every design decision starts from how the money moves.
Money We Never Touch
Funds sit with TradeSafe, not with Yalla. That is architectural, not a policy we could quietly change.
Inspect Before Release
Nothing is paid out until the buyer has physically seen the animals and said they are satisfied.
Free to List
Sellers pay nothing to list. Buyers pay one protection fee, shown in full before they commit.
Built for Rural Data
Designed for a phone on a patchy signal, not a desktop on fibre in a city office.
A Record, Not a Group Chat
Who sold what, at what price, and when it was accepted — logged for both sides.
The listing was never the hard part. Settlement was.
Plenty of platforms already list livestock in South Africa. What none of them made standard is the part that actually carries the risk — holding the money until the buyer has seen the animals.
Meet the team
Placeholder profiles for layout — real names, roles and photographs go in before launch.
Your next trade starts in the app
Listing and buying both happen inside the app. Sellers list free; buyers pay one protection fee at checkout.