MDP, a prominent group providing payment technology infrastructure in the Middle East and Africa, announced a new strategic investment on Tuesday.
The deal spearheaded by Lorax Capital Partners (LCP) also marks the exit of MPD’s long-time partner AfricInvest, whose assistance has been crucial to the group’s growth for years.
Commenting on the partnership between MDP and the consortium, Mohamed Sadek, Managing Partner at LCP, said, “We are excited to be backing MDP’s founders in realising their strategic vision of becoming the partner of choice for financial institutions across the region. We are confident that LCP and its highly experienced co-investors will play an important role during MDP’s next phase of growth, which will focus on further investments in technology, expanded product offerings and geographic expansion.”
MDP’s significant milestone
Through industry-leading developer platforms and embedded fintech capabilities, MDP provides more than 200 banks and 60 fintechs in Africa and the Middle East with a fully integrated, one-stop-shop ecosystem for payments technology that includes card issuing, processing, and cloud-native digital solutions.
In addition to issuing more than 350 million cards and processing more than 1 billion transactions to date, MDP is still supporting the region’s efforts at digital transformation and financial inclusion.
“This investment marks a pivotal milestone in MDP’s journey,” said Ahmed Nafie, Co-founder and CEO of MDP. “We are proud of the robust platform and trusted reputation we’ve built across 40+ countries. With the backing of Lorax and a distinguished group of global institutional investors, we are well-positioned to accelerate our expansion, deepen our processing capabilities, and further scale our operations across Africa, the Middle East, and beyond. We also extend our sincere thanks to AfricInvest for their instrumental role in supporting our strategic growth and regional leadership.”
The new investment, spearheaded by LCP, is supported by a group of international development financial institutions, such as the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and Proparco, a private sector development subsidiary of the French AFD Group. Their participation highlights a regional dedication to developing digital innovation and financial infrastructure.
Exit of AfricInvest
AfricInvest, a prominent pan-African private equity firm that has been an invaluable partner in MDP’s journey, is leaving amid this new deal. AfricInvest gave MDP access to a network of key players in the financial services and fintech industries, operational support, and strategic direction by leveraging its broad regional platform, which spans 38 African nations.
Over the course of its investment, AfricInvest has spearheaded value creation projects, strategic alliances, and operational improvements that have established MDP as a pillar of the fintech industry in the area.
“We believed in MDP’s ability to pivot into payment processing and played a key role in transforming the company from a pure industrial player to a technology-driven leader. Today, MDP stands as a vital partner in Egypt’s fintech and banking ecosystem, actively contributing to the country’s financial inclusion strategy,” said Ismail Talbi, Senior Partner at AfricInvest.
Skander Oueslati, Chief Investment Officer at AfricInvest, added, “Our commitment to fostering regional connectivity and supporting portfolio companies in their pan-African expansion was a driving force in our partnership with MDP. We opened doors in sub-Saharan Africa, helping MDP to establish local partnerships and presence, paving the way for further growth.”