Nairobi — Private investment firm TPG has paid $47.5m to acquire an unspecified stake in Kenyan digital payments firm Cellulant, which operates in 11 African markets, both firms said on Monday. Global investors have been eyeing deals in African financial technology firms to take advantage of growth offered by a continent that has used technology to surmount challenges such as low penetration of banking services. "Across Africa, expanding easy-to-use and low-cost mobile banking offers immense potential for impact, and Cellulant is at the leading edge of that work," said Bill McGlashan, CEO and co-founder of The Rise Fund, the impact investment arm of TPG that invested the cash. Rise invested together with Endeavor Catalyst, Satya Capital and Velocity Capital. The board of Rise includes rock star Bono, London-based Sudanese tycoon Mo Ibrahim and the founder of eBay, Pierre Omidyar. TPG said the deal was the largest of its kind in African financial technology firms. Cellulant, which wa...
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