Payments' switching technology firm Distra will be sold to ACI Worldwide for US$49 million, the two firms announced late last week. Founded in Sydney in 1999, the firm aimed to penetrate a global market dominated by ACI and eFunds with a more versatile and modern switching technology.While landing one or two notable buyers for its product - such as the Faster Payments Service in the UK - Distra struggled to make much headway.Consolidated Press, through its ecorp arm, and ABN Amro were early investors. Starfish Ventures, a Melbourne-based venture capital firm, was the Distra's principal funder, following later funding rounds.In 2008, Distra secured National Australia Bank as a cornerstone investor, with the bank taking up to A$20 million in shares in a transaction that valued the firm at $80 million.At the time, NAB was making plans for a white-label payments' processing business (one with international aspirations) known as Evolution Payments.A change in senior staff at NAB saw the project put on the backburner and eventually wound down late last year.NAB still uses the Distra platform for some payment processing, including transactions made on China UnionPay cards.