Visa is picking 20% of Interswitch with $200 million, Sky News reports. That makes Interswitch a real unicorn at $1 billion valuation. Great news except that I am afraid once Visa takes all the prizes, Verve will disappear! I hope Interswitch protects that, as Verve has a real potential to become a pan-African card. Of course, Interswitch is a business and can do whatever it wants. Nonetheless, this is good news for team Nigeria.
Sources said on Sunday that the US-based multinational would invest $200m in Interswitch in return for a 20% stake.
The deal will see Visa becoming a cornerstone investor in the Nigerian-headquartered company ahead of a prospective initial public offering in London during the first half of 2020.
Interswitch is one of the largest Africa-focused electronic payments and infrastructure companies, with point-of-sale terminals, online consumer payment platforms and its own card, Verve.
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