Visa, the payments company, announced Tuesday (October 23) a strategic minority investment in Conductor, a digital payments processing technology platform in Brazil.
In a press release, Visa said the investment will go to help Conductor expand its products and to accelerate innovation in payments. The payment reinforces an existing partnership between the two, Visa noted in the press release. Conductor, which has been backed by Riverwood Capital since 2014, is a key technology processing platform for retailers, banks and other companies in Brazil, according to the press release.
“Over the past four years, Conductor has invested aggressively in its technology platform in order to facilitate payments for different type of clients, from some of the largest issuers across financial institutions and retailers to the rapidly emerging fintech ecosystem in Brazil. We have grown four times in size since 2014, and are excited to welcome Visa’s strategic investment as we evolve in our next phase of growth, including our expanding digital payments ecosystem,” said Antonio Soares, Conductor’s CEO in the press release.
According to the companies, the area of focus and product expansion plans include developing issuer-focused solutions for tokenizing payments via mobile wallets, improving access to Visa APIs, expanding the use of push payments with Visa Direct and increasing acceptance for digital payments among small and medium-sized businesses in the region.
“Through our investment in Conductor, we are reinforcing our commitment to significantly invest in attractive fintechs and key digital enablers from Latin America and the Caribbean, given the thriving community we are seeing throughout the region,” Ruben Salazar, senior vice president of products and innovation for Visa Latin America and the Caribbean, said in the same press release. “We believe Conductor’s merchant and bank relationships will allow them to develop payment solutions for underserved consumers in Brazil and across Latin America, and we are excited to work together on these initiatives,” he added.
Visa said its investment in Conductor is part of the payment company’s global strategy to open up the Visa ecosystem and support a broad array of new partners.