Press Release

INTERSWITCH & INTERSTELLAR to Develop Blockchain-powered Infrastructure Services & Solutions

Africa’s first Enterprise Blockchain Infrastructure Services organization, signs a long-term strategic partnership agreement with Africa’s first Fintech Unicorn to develop Blockchain-powered Infrastructure Services and Solutions.

Published

3 years ago

October 4, 2021

Crypto TV Plus

Africa's first Enterprise Blockchain Infrastructure Services organization, signs a long-term strategic partnership agreement with Africa’s first Fintech Unicorn to develop Blockchain-powered Infrastructure Services and Solutions.

Over the past two years, Interswitch and Interstellar have been conducting research on blockchain technology. As a result of the partnership, Interstellar’s Blockchain technology stack called STARGATE will be integrated with Interswitch’s industry-leading payments and digital commerce technology. The integration will advance the shared vision of the businesses to drive greater financial inclusion and prosperity across the African continent.

Interstellar and Interswitch have been preparing for the blockchain revolution in the African market with several ongoing initiatives including a Pan African Payment Ecosystem (PAPE) powered by a private permissioned blockchain network which includes a consortium of Banks and Fintech players.

Ernest Mbenkum, Founder and CEO at Interstellar, commented, “We are delighted to have established this strategic partnership with Interswitch, one of Africa’s most valuable fintech businesses. This marks the genesis of an innovative and collaborative partnership aimed at delivering impact-focused and enterprise grade blockchain-powered services across the African continent.”

interstellar partners with Interswitch

Interswitch has been at the forefront of key innovation milestones in payments in Nigeria for the last 20 years, garnering recognition along the line as one of the fastest-growing technology companies in Africa (Deloitte Fast-Growth 50) and gaining acclaim as the first homegrown African Fintech Unicorn following a minority investment by Visa in late 2019. Today, Interswitch’s current business footprint covers more than 26 countries in Africa.

Akeem Lawal, Divisional Chief Executive Officer for Transaction Switching and Payment Processing at Interswitch commented, “We are excited to partner with Interstellar on this journey and we look forward to the amazing things we will achieve together in the African market. This new alliance underscores the directional evolution of our blockchain innovation strategy which is premised on 3 core pillars:

Strategically developing a native, proprietary enterprise-grade distributed ledger technology stack that is practically tailored to the African context.
Progressively digitizing multiple industry value-chains across African markets
Supporting the actualization of the Pan African Payment Ecosystem (PAPE), riding the wave of opportunities created by such initiatives as the AfCFTA (African Continental Free Trade Area).”

Akeem Lawal, Divisional Chief Executive Officer for Transaction Switching and Payment Processing at Interswitch

The adoption of distributed ledger technology applications in Africa offers significant potential for advancing socio-economic growth, empowerment of communities, digitization of industries, lowering the costs of local and cross border payments, localization of emerging technology and the development of African tech talent.

Looking at recent trends, the African continent has been seen to be progressively embracing contemporary innovation in digital currency, with Central Banks and other payment service providers actively championing some of these interventions. These trends present multiple advantages and opportunities for deepening payment systems across the continent, and this timely partnership between Interswitch and Interstellar represents another significant milestone in the journey.

ABOUT INTERSTELLAR

Founded in 2017, Interstellar™ is a technology company that powers critical blockchain infrastructure for digital payments and financial institutions across Africa. It was instrumental in the development and rollout of the Bantu Blockchain, the first Africa-led blockchain infrastructure and protocol.

Interstellar works with startups, enterprises, and public sector institutions to build and manage the best Decentralised Finance (DeFi), cross-border, and peer-to-peer applications.

As more organizations continue to adopt Blockchain technology, Interstellar has developed a robust yet simple service transition and delivery model. This has enabled Interstellar’s clients to seamlessly transition from their legacy systems with minimal business disruption. The Interstellar team is currently spread across Cameroon, Canada and Nigeria.

ABOUT INTERSWITCH

Founded in 2002, Interswitch’s broad network and robust payments platform have been instrumental to the development of the Nigerian payments ecosystem and provide Interswitch with credibility to expand across Africa.

It operates as an integrated technology company with digital payments, transaction processing and e-commerce capabilities and provides technology integration, advisory support, digital payments, digital commerce, financial inclusion, payment infrastructure and healthtech services across Africa.

Interswitch remains a leading player with critical mass in Africa’s rapidly developing financial ecosystem and is active across the payments value chain, providing a full suite of omni-channel payment solutions.