Private equity fund manager Apis Partners has sold all of the shares it indirectly held in South Africa’s Tutuka Holdings, a payments aggregator active in Africa. Its shares (62.6%) which it owned through its investment fund Apis Growth Fund II were sold for an undisclosed amount to SaltPay, a payment solutions provider focused on European SMEs.
“We are delighted that SaltPay has identified Tutuka as an asset to its own business as it seeks to provide an end-to-end solution to its customers around the world. Adding this essential component to the SaltPay product offering will bring significant benefits to all of its stakeholders, ”commented Udayan Goyal, Partner and Co-Founder of Apis Partners.
Here Is What You Need To Know
- Apis, which is withdrawing from Tutuka after 2 years of investment, claims to have contributed to the growth of this physical and virtual payment card issuing company, which operates in 33 emerging countries.
- The fund manager says he has enabled Tutuka to develop its international presence and especially to strengthen its clientele.
- It was in September 2019 that Apis Partners joined Tutuka’s funding round by buying back the shares of Paycorp.
- The manager had thus offered himself a majority stake in the capital of this company which counts among its customers, the South African telecoms operator MTN.
- At that time, Apis was motivated by the mobile ecosystem which, according to its estimates, should grow by more than 45% per year until 2021.
- The company recently led a $110m round in South African digital bank TymeBank, alongside JG Summit, one of the largest and most diversified Filipino conglomerates.
A Look At What Apis Partners Does
The firm supports growth stage financial services and financial infrastructure businesses in Africa and Asia by providing them with growth equity capital. A majority of the firm’s portfolio companies are mainly fintech companies which are based in South Africa, Kenya, India, Malaysia, Singapore and other parts of Asia. In 2020, one of its portfolio companies, Kenya’s DPO Group, a leading, high-growth online commerce platform in Africa operating across 19 countries, was acquired by Network International, a leading enabler of digital commerce across the Middle East and Africa (MEA). The deal was a landmark for the African payments space.
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“Apis focuses on driving financial services, with the help of innovation and technology, as a cornerstone of building better lives for people across the world. This was the key driver that pushed us to start Apis,” said Apis Partners founders Matteo Stefanel and Udayan Goyal.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer
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