Facebook Inc co-founder Eduardo Saverin is participating in a US$40 million (S$54 million) investment in Mswipe Technologies, his first foray into the India start-up market.

Mr Saverin's B Capital Group and DSG Consumer Partners are leading the funding round, which also includes Ratan Tata's UC-RNT Fund, Matrix Partners India and Falcon Edge Capital.

Mr Saverin will join the company's board and work with its management on expansion.

The Brazilian-born billionaire has reinvented himself as a venture capitalist since relocating to Singapore in 2009.

Previously, he had drawn attention for disputes with Mr Mark Zuckerberg, immortalised in The Social Network, and his renunciation of United States citizenship, which was criticised as tax dodge.

Mr Saverin invests personally and through B Capital Group, a global venture capital firm he co-founded that focuses on financial technology, healthcare, industrial logistics and consumer technology companies. His investments include the house-hunting site 99.co and e-commerce provider Orami, while B Capital put money into parcel-delivery service Ninja Van. He has a net worth of US$9.5 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Mswipe's platform enables merchants to accept digital payments like UPI, Google Tez, PhonePe, Bharat QR and BHIM as well as credit card payments. It claims to be India's largest independent merchant acquirer and point-of-sale network provider with 280,000 terminals across 650 cities and towns.

BLOOMBERG