Crossfin acquires majority stake in payment solutions company Crossgate [Updated]

Cape Town based fintech holding company Crossfin has acquired a majority stake in SA payment solutions company Crossgate for an undisclosed amount.

The deal, which was announced yesterday (10 October), follows Crossfin’s partnership with SA bank and asset management group Investec to identify and invest in early-stage fintech businesses.

In a statement yesterday (11 October), Crossfin COO and co-founder Anton Gaylard said Crossgate has a 10-year track record of forming strategic partnerships with international payment associations, payment card manufacturers, mobile payment experts, processors and other technology providers that enable commerce.

In a subsequent email to Ventureburn, Gaylard explained that media technology company Tritech Media previously owned the majority stake in Crossgate, alongside two other US-based investors, all of whom have now exited.

In a statement on Saturday (13 October), Tritech Media said it had disposed its 45% holding in Crossgate Technologies to Crossfin.

Crossfin’s acquisition of a majority stake in Crossgate follows the fintech holding firm’s partnership with Investec to invest in three to four early-stage fintech firms

He stressed that this deal does not form part of Blue Garnet Ventures, the early-stage investment arm of Crossfin in which Investec participates.

“The Crossgate deal is a significant value-generator for Crossfin and its portfolio of innovative fintech businesses.

“As part of the deal, Randvest Capital Investments also took an equity stake in Crossgate as part of a BEE shareholding transaction. Investec is not involved in this transaction,” he added.

Tritech Media stated that Randvest Capital Investment now holds a 30% stake in Crossgate.

Crossgate CEO David de Coning (pictured above), commenting in the same statement, said the deal gives the payment solutions firm access to Crossfin’s “well-established and strong position” in the African payments market.

Ventureburn attempted to contact De Coning for comment on the deal to establish who the company’s founders are as well as how much equity Crossfit now holds in the firm after the deal. He was not immediately available.

Based on information on De Coning’s LinkedIn profile, Crossgate was — in 2014 — spun out of the products and advanced payments business unit of Opengate, a company that De Coning co-founded in 2006.

The deal also brings in Randvest Capital Investments as a strategic BEE partner.

In July, Investec’s Akash Maharaj told Ventureburn that the Investec Emerging Companies mandate had concluded a deal with Crossfin to identify three or four early-stage fintech startups.

Maharaj explained that Investec will utilise Crossfin’s angel funding arm, Blue Garnet Investments to make the investments in the selected startups.

Read more: Investec out to fund fintech startups through global investment platform

Featured image: Crossgate CEO David de Coning (MicroinsuranceNetwk via Twitter)

Editor’s note (12 October and 15 October): Subsequent to the publication of the article, Crossfin COO and co-founder Anton Gaylard told Ventureburn that media technology company Tritech Media previously owned the largest stake in Crossgate alongside two other US based investors, all of whom exited.

The story has been updated to reflect this and his comments around the deal, in addition to statements by Tritech Media on how much equity it had disposed of in the deal as well as how much equity Randvest Capital Investment has acquired in Crossgate.