Visa, the global credit card giant is reportedly planning to acquire a 20% stake in Interswitch, Africa’s integrated payments, and transaction solutions company.
If the deal pulls through, the fintech firm will become Africa’s latest technology ‘unicorn’ after Jumia, the continent’s largest eCommerce firm as a result of listing its shares on the New York Stock Exchange.
According to reports by Sky News, talks on the deal are in advanced stages and Visa, which has more than 19 million cards active on its network in Africa, is expected to invest $200m in Interswitch in return for a 20% stake.
The announcement comes just days after Interswitch acquired a Nigerian health tech firm, eClat for an undisclosed fee and its prospective initial public offering in London during the first half of 2020.
This is not the first time Visa and Interswitch are working together. Back in July 2017, they disclosed that they will partner to boost mobile payment adoption across the region.
The partnership saw Visa and Interswitch partnering to upgrade the digital banking applications of leading banks to include mVisa, as well as enable more merchants to accept mVisa payments.
Mitchell Elegbe is the Interswitch CEO who founded the company in 2002 and in 2010 two thirds of the company was sold to a consortium led by Helios Investment Partners.
Interswitch is an Africa-focused integrated digital payments and commerce company that facilitates the electronic circulation of money as well as the exchange of value between individuals and organisations on a timely and consistent basis. It owns the international payment card verve founded in 2009.
