MFS Africa, an Africa-focused digital payments company, announced that it has acquired US-based Global Technology Partners (GTP) for $34 million in a combination of cash and shares.
The Dare Okoudjou – led company said that the acquisition will enable MFS Africa further deepen its offering to Africa’s gig economy, the business travel market and the millions who eagerly want to participate in the global digital commerce through card credentials linked to mobile money wallets – rather than bank accounts – for seamless and secure online purchases.
This will also expand MFS Africa’s bank and fintech base and provides tokenisation for the mobile money world in connecting with the traditional card scheme ecosystems such as Visa and Mastercard.
Late last year, MFS Africa which originally started out as a remittance company, raised $100 million in a new Series-C funding round. The company recently signed an agreement to acquire Baxi one of Nigeria’s leading super-agent networks, heralding its entry into Nigeria.
Based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, GTP is the number one processor for prepaid cards in Africa with over 80 banks – including UBA, Ecobank, BIA, Stanbic, Coris, NSIA and Zenith Bank – using its platform. The company’s client base covers 34 countries and is fully connected to the Visa, Mastercard, GIM, GIMAC and Verve networks for which it provides the processing.
According to Founder and CEO of MFS Africa, Dare Okoudjou, “This is a momentous milestone for us and Africa’s tech ecosystem – on many levels. It’s something of a first for an African tech company to acquire a US tech company of GTP’s size and stature, and we’re delighted to be welcoming the GTP team to the MFS Africa family. Their expertise enables us to extend our value proposition of last-mile connectivity to African banks, and to accelerate our offering of card connectivity to mobile money users and other fintech companies operating across the continent. The combined operations have immense and exciting growth potential, and with our extended portfolio, we are now truly an omnichannel payments company.”
Robert Merrick, Founder and Chairman, Global Technology Partners, commented: “GTP’s established position as Africa’s number one prepaid card processor has been built on its unique, flexible platform that actively helps prepaid cards to succeed. We have become the leader of prepaid cards in Africa because of our people, who have genuine in-depth knowledge not only of the prepaid card business but also of the realities that African card users face. We connect the right solution to the right markets with the right products. MFS Africa is an ideal home for GTP, and we are focused on adding new features and functionalities to our platform, signing up new clients, expanding into new countries, driving growth and making a significant contribution to growing MFS Africa’s business and its network of networks.”
MFS Africa says that “following its acquisition of GTP, MFS Africa will be expanding its network of offices by opening an office in New York City by the end of the third quarter 2022. This will enable MFS Africa to provide closer engagement for its US based clients and to establish an additional presence in North America to complement its purchase of GTP.”
