DEAL: Nigerian fintech firm, Bloc acquires payment firm, Orchestrate

Nigeria’s full-service fintech and banking as a service infrastructure provider, Bloc, has announced the acquisition of Getwallets, the wallets-as-a-service provider recently transformed into a payment orchestration company, Orchestrate.

The strategic acquisition enables Bloc to focus its core product strategy on delivering seamless BaaS and banking services, while Orchestrate leads its fintech infrastructure with its proprietary payment orchestration API.

Bloc’s 100% acquisition of Getwallets is a combined cash and equity deal where the revamped entrant to the Bloc family remains a standalone entity that continues to be led by CEO and founder, Jerry Enebeli.

What they say

Commenting on the acquisition, Edmund Olotu, founder of Bloc, said: “We are proud of our input in helping shape the African fintech space and are delighted to welcome the Orchestrate team to the Bloc family. Part of our vision has always been to enable companies of all sizes to offer their customers seamless payment solutions, which is essential not only for the end-user experience, but also for the growth of the industry. Jerry and his team built an incredible platform that was a perfect fit for what we wanted to add to our range of services, so it made sense to acquire their proven expertise rather than build our own platform from scratch. This is an exciting evolution for both companies as we look to grow and build even more solutions that will ultimately support the growth of African technology companies in the coming years.” Orchestrate Founder and CEO Jerry Enebeli added: “We are delighted to bring our technology and know-how to the already incredible Bloc team.It was clear that our business growth goals were aligned and that we could mutually benefit from combining our talents, resources and expertise to create a unique infrastructure that can power African fintech. We look forward to working together to close the fragmented gaps in cross-platform payments and empower many more companies to scale their markets, both in Africa and globally.”

Bloc, with its CBN-issued PSSP & Microfinance banking licenses, specializes in providing proprietary and aggregated APIs that enable companies to offer banking and financial services to their customers while handling most regulatory and compliance requirements on their behalf. The stack of F/BaaS products and services enables companies to embed seamless digital financial services into their platform.

Since 2021, Bloc has transitioned from offering utility payment solutions to its current iteration as a full-service FaaS infrastructure provider. Through its bill payment API alone, Bloc has processed more than $30 million in the past year. The company also recently launched its SuperAgency tool that allows licensed businesses to offer banking services.

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