Interswitch, a Nigerian-based African payment company, has sealed a $110 million joint investment deal from LeapFrog Investments and Tana Africa Capital, according to a statement from the investment companies.
The investment will be used to scale growth across the African continent, the firms said. With the new investment, Interswitch, which crossed the unicorn threshold in 2019 after receiving $200 million for a 20% stake from Visa, has further upped its valuation even though it didn’t confirm how much it got from the firms per TechCrunch.
“The exact terms of the transaction haven’t been disclosed. We can’t comment on that for now,” a spokesperson for the company told TechCrunch when asked about the investment and Interswitch’s new valuation.
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However, both Interswitch Group and LeapFrog Investments have expressed optimism that the investment will help the payment firm to expand its services.
“This investment by LeapFrog affirms the formidable talent at Interswitch, and how well-placed it is to seize the significant opportunity in Africa’s evolving digital payments landscape. LeapFrog is proud to be partnering with Interswitch to further enhance their innovative, digital capabilities to deliver sustainable scale, whilst positively impacting the lives of millions of people and businesses across the region,” Karima Ola, Partner, Head of Africa Financial Services, LeapFrog Investments said.
“We are excited to welcome LeapFrog and Tana on board, as we continue our work to advance the future of the African payments landscape. The evolution of fintech in Nigeria and the broader sub-Saharan region has been driven by the need to solve challenges and barriers that exist within the traditional financial system. Interswitch was born from the need to develop solutions that match the unique needs of local customers and merchants,” Mitchell Elegbe, Founder and Group Chief Executive of Interswitch said.
However, the 20-year old company has been mute on its expected IPO debut which has been on its to-do-list since 2016, but that has not limited its growth. Interswitch powers seamless payment in Africa across online payments, POS terminals, Quickteller and Verve, which is 100% accepted for payment in Nigeria and 185 other countries globally, the company said.
With a 948 full-time employees across Africa, the fintech powers much of the rails for Nigeria’s online banking system and is well known for its point-of-sale terminals, online consumer payment platforms, Quickteller and Verve, the biggest domestic debit card scheme in Africa that has issued over 35 million active cards since launch.