Investment in InTouch, a major digital payment platform in West Africa.
July 7, 2021
Toyota Tsusho Corporation ("Toyota Tsusho") -- through its group company CFAO SAS ("CFAO") and Mobility 54 Investment SAS ("Mobility 54") -- decided to invest in InTouch SAS ("InTouch"), a company developing digital payment services mainly for West African countries such as Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire.
The existing shareholders and strategic partners of InTouch -- TOTAL Energies (“Total”) and the European leader in payment services, Worldline SA (“Worldline”) -- also decided to reinvest in InTouch.
1. Background
In Sub-Saharan Africa, it is deemed that only about 40% of the adult population holds personal banking accounts due to a series of factors; notably the lack of ATMs, account maintenance and transaction costs. On the other hand, approximately 80% of the adult population owns mobile phones and has access to digital payment services enabling remittances and withdrawals via mobile phone terminals without having a bank account. Digital payment services are used in a variety of industries -- such as retail, utility, and mobile phone companies -- and are expected to further grow in the region.
2. About InTouch
InTouch is a digital payment aggregator integrating 230 digital payment services into a single payment platform -- such as a large number of mobile money brands, insurance services and online bill payments etc. The company is currently operating in 10 countries (mainly in West Africa) and providing services like TouchPay in more than 30,000 locations, including 1,200 of Total’s gas stations. InTouch plans to expand its business throughout Africa by collaborating with Toyota Tsusho Group.
3. Future business development through investment and collaboration with InTouch
Under the partnership with InTouch, Toyota Tsusho Group will actively promote the digitalization of its payment operations across all business segments (automobiles, healthcare, consumer goods, etc.) throughout Africa -- contributing to improve the convenience for its valued customers in Africa. In addition, this investment will further accelerate deployments of digital payments in sectors such as public transportation, logistics, and automobile finance, which are traditionally dominated by cash transactions.
Toyota Tsusho Group -- through CFAO and Mobility 54 -- will continue to invest in companies developing innovative technologies and services for Africa. The group is pursuing to help solve the social and industrial challenges in Africa by supporting expansions of innovative partners’ businesses and creating strong synergies between our group and the partners.
Bulk payment system by InTouch