Interswitch raises $110m to scale digital payments

Interswitch, Africa’s top payment gateway, has received a $110 million investment from LeapFrog Investments and Tana Africa Capital to help the company expand across the continent and provide digital payment services.

This was announced in a tweet.

What the companies are saying

Although the company didn’t confirm the amount it received from the firms separately, the two private investment firms said in the statement, “The exact terms of the transaction haven’t been disclosed. We can’t comment on that for now,” according to Techcrunch.

In a statement released by the CEO of Interswitch, Mitchell Elegbe, the company expressed excitement in having both companies become part of the board.

We are excited to welcome Leapfrog and Tana on board, as we continue our work to advance the future of the African payments landscape

Mitchell Elegbe, CEO, Interswitch

LeapFrog and Tana want to engage with management to continue driving Interswitch’s pan-African strategy, which includes recruiting new clients and developing new products to promote a financial inclusion goal, alongside existing investors.

Interswitch, a pioneer in the African payments ecosystem, has been disrupting the cash economy, driving digital payments and promoting equitable financial inclusion in Nigeria for two decades. 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

Karima Ola – LeapFrog Investments, partner, head of Africa financial services

Mark Tindall, Managing Director and CEO, Tana Africa said, “Interswitch has developed a strong position at the nexus of Nigeria’s payments ecosystem, underpinned by an offering which is primed for continued growth. The business’ evolution is testament to management’s track record and tenacity. Alongside LeapFrog, we look forward to supporting Interswitch’s next chapter through continued product innovation and growth across the African continent.”

Interswitch’s last publicly publicised funding round, when Visa paid $200 million for a 20% share in the company, was almost three years ago.

Interswitch is one of Africa’s major electronic payments and infrastructure companies, valued at $1 billion. The fintech is well-known for its point-of-sale terminals, online consumer payment platforms, Quickteller, and Verve, Africa’s largest domestic debit card scheme, which has issued over 35 million active cards since its introduction.

The company, last year November, partnered Interstellar to develop blockchain infrastructure services across Africa which represented the birth of an innovative and collaborative partnership aimed at delivering impact-focused and enterprise-grade blockchain-powered services across the African continent.

Interswitch announced its plan to go public for the first time in 2016. CEO Elegbe told TechCrunch in an interview that year that the company would pursue dual-listing on the London and Nigeria stock exchanges. However, the report about the 20-year old fintech company’s listing on both exchanges were shelved after receiving funding from Visa.