The billionaire founder of the OTR petrol station empire will back Perth-headquartered offshore payment fintech Bless Payments in a funding round that gives the start-up a valuation of around $40 million.

Over the last year, Charlie Shahin has been heavily investing the proceeds of the sale of the family’s service station and convenience store business to Viva Energy in a $1.2 billion deal in 2023. The investment in Bless Payments follows his $5.1 million investment in medical cannabis player Vitura Health earlier this year, as well as his acquisition of a 20 per cent stake in Adelaide-based software company Alpen Enterprises in March.