• Bilt is acquiring travel commission platform Sion for $30 million, marking the company’s second acquisition in less than a year.
• Bilt expects that the deal will strengthen its travel rewards offering.
• Integrating Sion’s technology will help Bilt connect travel advisors to its hospitality platform, helping members book travel experiences while creating a more differentiated rewards program.

Loyalty platform Bilt has acquired commission management platform Sion for $30 million to strengthen its travel rewards. Today’s acquisition marks Bilt’s second acquisition in under a year.

Founded in 2018, Sion offers commission reconciliation for travel agencies. The New Jersey-based company manages more than $7 billion in travel booking revenue, helping more than 8,000 travel advisors get paid faster and operate more efficiently.

“Travel businesses don’t need another intermediary trying to compete with them,” said Sion Co-Founder Irving Betesh. “They need modern infrastructure and software that solves real operational problems. Sion has built a best-in-class experience around one of the biggest pain points in travel, commissions. We’re excited to join the Bilt team, allowing us to further accelerate what we can deliver for travel businesses and advisors serving travelers around the world.”

Bilt will leverage Sion’s technology and team to further extend its hospitality platform to travel advisors which will be used to build a network of advisors who can deliver travel experiences for Bilt Members. The company said that buying the commission reconciliation platform helps Bilt build a hospitality platform that offers a more robust rewards experience for cardholders. What started with housing payments and neighborhood services now extends to travel.

Through Sion, travel advisors will be able to leverage Bilt’s platform to manage their workflows, serve clients, and grow their businesses. Advisors will also have access to commission reconciliation and tracking, invoice follow-up automation, and new tools for managing bookings and payments more efficiently.

“Bilt’s hospitality platform already helps properties and merchants deliver their best customer experience, and with Sion, we’re extending that to travel advisors,” said Bilt Founder and CEO Ankur Jain. “By giving travel advisors the tools to run their entire business more effectively, we’re building a network of the world’s best travel advisors, and our members benefit from that. This is what building a membership truly centered around where you live looks like.”

As the popularity of embedded banking rises, so does competitive pressure in the space. Loyalty platforms are evolving beyond simple credit card points programs into robust ecosystems that influence how consumers book, shop, and experience services. By bringing travel advisor infrastructure into its platform, Bilt is positioning itself to play a larger role in how its members plan for and purchase travel, which ultimately creates a more differentiated and sticky rewards experience.

Once the acquisition closes, Sion will operate independently under the leadership of its co-founders. The company will maintain its existing clients and services.

Bilt was founded in 2021 to offer a loyalty rewards program and credit card that allows renters to earn points when they pay their rent, building credit with every payment. With no annual fee, the Bilt Mastercard credit card also allows cardholders to earn points on select dining experiences, rideshare purchases, and travel purchases. These points can be redeemed for travel, fitness classes, home decor, and even a down payment on a future home.

Photo by Jessica Bryant

Virginia-based cash handling company The Brink’s Company (Brink’s), has agreed to acquire NCR Atleos in a deal valued at around $6.6 billion.

The deal will combine Brink’s global cash management expertise with NCR Atleos’ ATM management and services as well as its ATM network and ATM-as-a-Service (ATMaaS) solutions. Adding NCR Atleos’ capabilities will allow Brink’s to offer complementary products, services, and software that provide banks and retail customers with an even broader variety of cash management solutions.

“This acquisition further supports Brink’s ability to deliver enhanced customer solutions and accelerates our value creation strategy,” said Brink’s President and Chief Executive Officer Mark Eubanks. “NCR Atleos is a partner we know well, and our business cultures are closely aligned around customer success, continuous improvement, and managing the interface between physical to digital payments to enable ease of cash acceptance and use. By combining our organizations, we gain critical scale and complementary, integrated capabilities to drive our ambitious growth strategy and provide new levels of service to our global customer base.”

Founded as NCR Corporation in 1881, the firm spun out NCR Atleos in October of 2023 to run as an independent company focused on ATMs. Today, NCR Atleos has an installed base of approximately 600,000 ATMs, 78,000 of which it owns and operates in high traffic retail locations. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, NCR Atleos employs 20,000 people across the globe to facilitate hardware, software, and service for its line of ATM-related technology.

This is a massive win for Brink’s, and not simply because it is buying up one of the oldest firms in financial services. The acquisition offers the company a greater geographic footprint, tapping NCR Atleos’ client base located across more than 140 countries. Adding NCR Atleos’ ATM software, services, and installed ATMs to its own armored transport services will enable Brink’s to offer a more holistic and vertically integrated set of services and products.

Once combined, Brink’s anticipates it will generate approximately $10 billion in total revenue.

“This transaction represents a strategic opportunity for NCR Atleos,” said NCR Atleos CEO Tim Oliver. “The extraordinary efforts of the NCR Atleos team over the two years since our separation from legacy NCR have strengthened our leading ATM installed base, sustained best-in-class service levels and introduced innovative products. Combining the complementary service-led businesses of Brink’s and NCR Atleos will enable us to enhance offerings to financial institutions and retailers, and create more opportunities for our employees.”

Photo by WoodysMedia

• Airwallex is acquiring Paynuri to enter South Korea, securing payment gateway, prepaid electronic payment instrument, and foreign exchange business registrations to support cross-border payments and FX services.
• The move gives Korean businesses access to Airwallex’s global financial platform, enabling multi-currency spending, international payments, and cross-border expansion.
• The acquisition signals intensifying competition in APAC payments, as Airwallex uses its fresh Series G capital to accelerate regulatory access, expand headcount locally, and strengthen its position against regional fintechs and global incumbents.

Commercial payments and banking platform Airwallex is expanding its global reach this week. The Singapore-based company is acquiring Paynuri, an entity that holds payment gateway and prepaid electronic payment instrument licenses in South Korea. Financial terms of the deal are undisclosed.

Airwallex plans to use these licenses to empower companies in Korea to expand across borders by offering Korean businesses a comprehensive platform for managing their financial operations across multiple markets and currencies. The acquisition will also give Airwallex the benefit of Paynuri’s South Korea Foreign Exchange Business registration, an accreditation that will further support cross-border payments and FX services in Korea.

“We are excited by this significant investment by Airwallex into the Korean market,” said Invest Seoul President and CEO Lee Jihyung. “We believe Airwallex’s entry will strengthen the financial operating environment for both Korean and global companies in the market.”

Airwallex’s spending capabilities, for example, allow businesses to manage company spending across multicurrency payment cards, expense management, and bill payments. The company’s multi-currency account facilitates the management of global banking, FX conversion, and international transfers, while its payments offerings allow businesses to accept online and in-store payments across the globe in more than 160 payment methods.

“This acquisition marks a pivotal milestone for Airwallex as we expand the global reach of our financial platform,” said Airwallex General Manager of APAC, Arnold Chan. “Korea’s fast-growing ecommerce, creative, and entertainment sectors present immense opportunities for Korean businesses on the global stage. Our goal is to support these businesses with a more efficient solution to expand beyond borders.”

Airwallex, which already operates across Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam, has been growing rapidly in the APAC region. In 2025, the company reported an 85% year-over-year increase in revenue and a 71% year-over-year boost in transaction volume. Globally, during the month of December 2025, Airwallex achieved $1.2 billion in revenue and recorded $266 billion in transaction volume.

To meet this demand, Airwallex will boost its workforce in Korea with plans to add 20 employees across multiple functions by the end of this year.

Founded in 2015, Airwallex holds 80 licenses and permits that enable customers to operate in 200+ countries and regions and support multi-currency checkout at scale. In 2025 alone, the company extended its regulated and local capabilities across 12 new markets, securing licenses and launching products in France, the Netherlands, Israel, Canada, Korea, Japan, New Zealand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brazil, Mexico, and the UAE.

Today’s investment comes about six weeks after Airwallex’s $330 million Series G fundraise, which valued the company at $8 billion. Airwallex’s expansion into the Korean market is a direct result of that investment.

By securing payment, prepaid, and foreign exchange approvals in South Korea, Airwallex is positioning itself to serve Korean businesses that are scaling internationally while avoiding the delays associated with organic licensing. The move also strengthens Airwallex’s position against both regional fintechs and global incumbents vying to serve global businesses.

• Flutterwave has agreed to acquire Mono, bringing open banking capabilities fully in-house as it pushes toward a more interoperable financial infrastructure across Africa.
• The deal allows Flutterwave to natively integrate financial data access, identity verification, and account-to-account payments.
• Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Cross-border payments company Flutterwave revealed it has agreed to acquire Mono, a fellow Africa-based fintech focused on providing open banking tools. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

For Flutterwave, investing in open banking technologies shows that it is committed to building an interoperable financial system for Africa. While Flutterwave originally partnered with Mono in 2022, the acquisition will allow the company to fully integrate Mono’s API-driven open banking elements. The native integration will offer users secure access to financial data, identity verification, and account-to-account payments. It will also create a clear path for expanding into richer alternative payment methods, authenticated payment flows, and open banking-enabled stablecoin use cases.

“This acquisition reflects how we think about the future of financial infrastructure in Africa,” said Flutterwave Founder and CEO Olugbenga ‘GB’ Agboola. “Payments, data, and trust cannot exist in silos. Open banking provides the connective tissue, and Mono has built critical infrastructure in this space. This acquisition allows us to expand what’s possible for businesses operating across African markets, while staying grounded in security, compliance, and local relevance.”

Mono was founded in 2020 to provide financial data, identity verification, and direct bank payments for businesses. With five million linked accounts across more than 500 banks and fintechs, the Lagos-based fintech covers three different countries.

“Mono’s capabilities across financial data access, direct bank payments, and identity verification, combined with Flutterwave’s unmatched scale and global reach, create something more defensible and comprehensive,” said Mono Founder and CEO Abdulhamid Hassan. “This acquisition allows us to build the infrastructure layer that powers the next generation of African fintech at the speed and scale the continent deserves.”

Once the acquisition is finalized, Mono will continue to operate independently with its leadership structure intact. Mono will also retain operational control, which will allow it to maintain its pace of innovation.

Flutterwave accepts payments in more than 30 currencies, processing an average of 500,000 payments each day. In addition to its payments technology, Flutterwave also offers invoicing technology, business loans, and analytics tools. Since it was founded in 2016, Flutterwave has raised more than $470 million and has processed over one billion transactions in excess of $40 billion.

The move positions Flutterwave toward full-stack financial infrastructure. It also reflects a broader industry shift toward open banking–enabled payment flows, where verified data and authenticated transfers reduce fraud, improve conversion, and unlock new use cases. For Africa’s fragmented financial ecosystem, tighter integration between payments and data infrastructure has the potential to boost interoperability while giving cross-border payment players like Flutterwave greater control over compliance, reliability, and product velocity.

Photo by Muhammad-Taha Ibrahim

• Mollie plans to acquire GoCardless in a move that creates a unified European payments platform that combines card payments, bank-to-bank transfers, and local payment methods for more than 350,000 businesses.

• GoCardless strengthens Mollie’s recurring payments and open banking capabilities, helping merchants reduce failed payments, customer churn, and cross-border complexity.

• The deal reflects a broader shift in payments, as merchants increasingly favor full-stack platforms that integrate payments, fraud, financing, and analytics while making bank payments and open banking rails core infrastructure rather than optional add-ons.

Payments platform Mollie unveiled this week that it plans to acquire business payments platform GoCardless. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Combined, the two providers will serve over 350,000 businesses with a holistic solution that offers card payments, local payment methods, and bank payments into a single solution.  

“We’re incredibly excited to join forces with Mollie,” said GoCardless Co-Founder and CEO Hiroki Takeuchi. “This deal brings together two highly complementary businesses that have built best-in-class products across Europe and beyond.  By combining our expertise in card, bank and hyperlocal payments into one provider, we can better serve our customers, accelerate growth and raise the bar for the industry. It’s a win for European fintech and we’re confident that the new company will be greater than the sum of its parts.”

GoCardless, which won Best Enterprise Payments Solution at the 2021 Finovate Awards, was founded in 2011. The UK-based company’s technology helps merchants collect recurring and one-off payments from customers via ACH transfers. GoCardless’ APIs help businesses automate payment collection and reconciliation billing for subscription and invoice payments. Last year, the company acquired NuPay, which helped expand GoCardless’ services through partners and intermediaries, including Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) and Payment Service Providers (PSPs). 

Mollie’s platform powers online and in-person payments, reconciliation, fraud prevention, and working capital loans with flexible repayment options across 30+ European markets and the UK. Founded in 2004, Mollie has raised $928 million.

“Mollie’s mission has always been to make money management effortless,” said Mollie CEO Koen Köppen. “We were founded on the vision to eliminate financial bureaucracy for every business. We see that bureaucracy creates challenges, especially for businesses with recurring revenue. A card-only approach has its limits, leading to high costs due to failed payments and customer churn. GoCardless built the definitive solution to optimize this process with its global bank payment network. By bringing them into Mollie, we take a huge step towards fulfilling our vision and creating one complete platform for sustainable growth.”

Mollie anticipates that the deal will give businesses access to a broad suite of tools that will offer financing, fraud monitoring, and analytics from a single place. The integration will also allow Mollie to offer recurring revenue management, more options for SaaS and vertical software vendors, local onboarding and reporting, and an easier on-ramp to international expansion.

Mollie’s acquisition of GoCardless marks a major consolidation in Europe’s payments landscape as unified platforms that combine cards, bank payments, and hyper-local payment options become more popular. As card failure rates, churn, and cross-border complexity continue to challenge merchants, Mollie is positioning itself as a full-stack alternative to fragmented payment tooling. The added capabilities offer merchants fewer integrations, stronger recurring revenue management, and a single provider for payments, fraud, financing, and analytics across Europe and the UK. The move also shows that bank-to-bank payments and open banking rails are becoming a core necessity for high-growth digital businesses.

The deal is expected to close by mid-2026.

Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko

• Enova is acquiring Grasshopper Bank for $369 million, creating a full-stack digital financial services provider that blends online lending with modern API-driven banking.
• Grasshopper brings $1.4 billion in assets, $3 billion in deposits, and a growing sponsor-bank portfolio, strengthening Enova’s infrastructure, deposit base, and fintech capabilities.
• The deal show the benefits of digital lenders that move up-market by acquiring bank charters to stabilize funding, expand product suites, and compete in the next phase of fintech.

It may be mid-December, but that doesn’t mean it’s too late to announce a bank acquisition. Online financial services company Enova International revealed that Grasshopper Bancorp has agreed to be acquired in a cash and stock transaction valued at approximately $369 million.

Grasshopper Bank, which offers small business banking and lending tools, as well as embedded finance and BaaS, was founded in 2019 and currently holds more than $1.4 billion in total assets as of September 2025. In addition to small business banking, the digital-first bank focuses on startup banking, venture and tech-forward SMB tools, digital treasury management, and high yield business checking and savings products. Grasshopper Bank is also a sponsor bank, working with fintechs such as Pocketbook, Manifest, and Sydecar. The bank, through its direct banking and BaaS product offerings, holds $3 billion in total deposits.

“We’re thrilled to join forces with Enova, a market leader in digital lending and a true innovator in the use of technology and analytics in the financial services sector,” said Grasshopper CEO Mike Butler. “This combination of enhanced digital lending and banking will enable us to serve an even broader set of customers while expanding and strengthening the product offerings for our current clients.”

Enova anticipates that this transaction will combine its consumer and small business online lending capabilities with Grasshopper’s digital banking infrastructure to help it become a stronger, more diversified financial services provider. With more than 13 million customers, Enova’s portfolio has seven brands, including OnDeck, Headway Capital, The Business Backer, CashNetUSA, NetCredit, Simplic, and Pangea.

“Acquiring and partnering with Grasshopper creates a powerful digital bank that positions us to offer a more comprehensive suite of financial solutions across more states to empower consumers and small businesses with the products they need to succeed,” said Enova Chairman and CEO David Fisher. “Our complementary capabilities and shared customer-first mindset mean we can grow and innovate faster, together. We’re excited to welcome the Grasshopper team to Enova.”

Once the deal is finalized, Enova will be formed as a bank holding company with Grasshopper Bank as its subsidiary. Butler will stay on as President of Grasshopper Bank, reporting to Steve Cunningham, who will be appointed CEO of Grasshopper Bank and will assume the role of Enova CEO on January 1, 2026.

The deal creates a vertically integrated fintech–bank hybrid that combines Enova’s scale in online consumer and SMB lending with Grasshopper’s modern, API-driven banking infrastructure, giving Enova a foothold in embedded finance. The announcement also offers a clue of how digital lenders and digital banks are converging to compete in the next phase of financial services. We may see other digital lenders move up-market by acquiring bank charters to stabilize funding and expand their product sets.

Photo by Roberto Carlos Blanc Angulo