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Ryan Reynolds makes investment in Canadian fintech firm Nuvei

"I know as much about fintech as I did about gin or mobile a few years ago."

Alicja Siekierska
·2-min read
FILE - Ryan Reynolds arrives at the 36th annual American Cinematheque Awards, Nov. 17, 2022, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. U.S. wireless carrier T-Mobile announced Wednesday, March 15, 2023, that it is buying prepaid wireless brand Mint Mobile, in which actor Ryan Reynolds is a part owner, as part of a cash-and-stock deal worth up to $1.35 billion. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)
Ryan Reynolds has made an investment in Nuvei, the company announced on Monday. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File) (Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)

Canadian payment technology company Nuvei Corp. (NVEI.TO) has a new celebrity investor.

Nuvei announced on Monday in a press release that actor and investor Ryan Reynolds has invested in the company, although it did not disclose any further details about the size and scope of the investment. The payments firm also launched an advertising campaign that features Reynolds promoting Nuvei alongside chief executive and chairman Phil Fayer.

Reynolds’ investment comes a month after Mint Mobile, the budget wireless service provider he partly owned, was was sold to T-Mobile for US$1.35 billion. Reynolds’ portfolio also includes investments in Welsh soccer club Wrexham AFC and American Aviation Gin, which was purchased by Diageo in 2020 for US$610 million.

“I know about as much about fintech as I did about gin or mobile a few years ago,” Reynolds said in a statement released by Nuvei.

“But Nuvei is impressive. The leadership team is exceedingly intelligent and hard-working and it’s about time a Canadian company got the type of attention American tech companies do.”

Reynolds said in an interview on CNBC’s Squawk Box program that the investment has been two years in the making and that “my job is storytelling.”

“America gets a lot of credit for innovation and I think there’s something quite funny and interesting and a fun story to tell about Canada flexing a little bit,” he said on CNBC. “This is already a multi-billion dollar global company with an amazing story to tell.”

Shares of Nuvei increased as much as 1.6 per cent on Monday, but were trading flat on the Toronto Stock Exchange as of 11:15 a.m. ET.

Nuvei is a global payments technology company that has been acquiring other platforms as part of its growth strategy. In February the company completed its $1.3 billion acquisition of Paya, a U.S. company that provides payment solutions for healthcare, government and business-to-business markets.

Alicja Siekierska is a senior reporter at Yahoo Finance Canada. Follow her on Twitter @alicjawithaj.

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