Mobility solutions provider Comviva, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tech Mahindra, has divested its entire stake in The Netherlands-based TerraPay to a consortium of global investors for an undisclosed sum. Additionally, the investors have also pumped $9.6 million into TerraPay to fund its expansion plans.

The consortium includes investors such as Prime Ventures and Partech Partners, and International Finance Corporation (a member of World Bank Group), the company said in a statement.

“We believe in our mission to address financial inclusion by making real-time national, regional and global payments accessible to everyone,” Ambar Sur, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of TerraPay, said.

The new consortium of investors will enable TerraPay to execute its strategy to scale up operations, payment infrastructure services and remove barriers for transfers to mobile money accounts, the statement added.

TerraPay, which provides payment infrastructure services to transfer money, was incubated by Comviva in 2015. Since its start, TerraPay has acquired more than 25 licences to operate in over 60 countries in Africa, Asia and Europe.

A strategic move to divest TerraPay business

“The market for international money transactions has changed rapidly over the past few years. The evolving regulatory framework constrained the growth of TerraPay and made it imperative to step out of the Comviva fold. We have taken a strategic decision to divest TerraPay business and are confident that this change is in the best interest of all the stakeholders,” Manoranjan Mohapatra, Chief Executive Officer at Comviva, said.

TerraPay was advised by the FinTech M&A team of investment bank Kempen & Co and Van Doorne, a law firm based in The Netherlands.

Comviva, a part of the $21-billion Mahindra Group, provides mobility solutions with its portfolio spanning digital financial services, customer value management, messaging and broadband solution and digital lifestyle services.

Published on March 3, 2020