In a deal inked in the second half of December and slated to be completed in the first quarter of 2017, payments innovator Kalixa Group has been sold to Senjō Group, a private investment company based in Singapore. The price tag of the purchase is $30 million (€29 million), with a completion accounts adjustment that could take the final tally to as much as $37 million (€35.5 million).
In a statement, Kalixa said the acquisition gave the company the chance to “build a global footprint.” In addition, the statement read “it will give us the stability and long term support we need to further develop our platform and product portfolio for the benefit of our customers and partners.” Kalixa offers end-to-end payment services in verticals including financial services, e-commerce, gaming, and ticketing systems. Its solutions include Kalixa Pay, a prepaid digital wallet; Kalixa Pro, a small business mPOS; and Kalixa Accept, which enables merchants to accept more than 200 different payment methods. Following its acquisition of PXP Solutions in 2014, Kalixa became one of the top five payment services companies in the world.
With 19 payments, e-commerce, remittance, trading, and factoring companies in its portfolio, Senjō Group sees Kalixa as a good fit “with our strategy of building a global payments ecosystem,” in the words of Senjō Group COO Gavin Lock. “In return we will provide Kalixa, its employees and customers with the benefits of being a part of a global specialist payments operator.”
Founded in 2007 and headquartered in Vienna, Austria, Kalixa demonstrated its mPOS technology at FinovateEurope 2013. In the fall of 2015, Kalixa was among a number of Finovate alums to make it to the finals of the U.K. Emerging Payments Awards. Earlier that year the company’s collaboration with Monitise, the social savings app called KiTTi, was launched by Santander UK.
Credited with helping bring SolarCity public in 2013, Roe (pictured) said AnchorID had “the potential to become a billion dollar provider of new identity services.” Previous to Roe’s tenure at SolarCity and Apple, he was VP of Customer Service & Quality at Palm and, before that VP of Operations Engineering at Webvan. In addition to management stints at Accenture and Texas Instruments, Roe earned a BS in Industrial Engineering & Operations Research from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and an MBA from the Martin J. Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University.
A look at the companies demoing live at FinovateEurope on the 7 and 8 of February 2017 in London. 
Presenters
Kalle Marsal, CMO
Presenters
Robin Dindayal, SVP Product Management
Janousek has more than eight years of experience building start-ups. He sold his last venture to O2. He is focused on delivering products with high added value and building a brand customers love.
