Mergers & Acquisitions

Experian Acquires Majority Stake in Brazil’s MOVA

Experian Acquires Majority Stake in Brazil’s MOVA
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Experian, Mergers & Acquisitions
  • Experian has agreed to acquire a majority stake in Brazil-based MOVA Sociedade de Empréstimo entre Pessoas S.A. (MOVA) for $7.89 million (R$40 million).
  • Experian will take a 51% stake in MOVA today, with the option to acquire the remainder of the company between 2026 and 2028.
  • Experian is interested in P2P lender MOVA because it has the potential to enable Experian to help Brazilian companies assess the creditworthiness of their SME clients.

Information services company Experian will acquire a 51% stake in Brazil-based MOVA Sociedade de Empréstimo entre Pessoas S.A. (MOVA) for $7.89 million (R$40 million).

Headquartered in Sao Paulo, Brazil, MOVA is a peer-to-peer lending platform that seeks to offer borrowers an alternative to traditional bank loans. The company also offers a range B2B tools, including a credit-assessment-as-a-service product to offer automate credit decisioning, a service to help companies register a credit request, anti-fraud tools, and more.

Experian’s interest in MOVA stems from this ability to help Brazilian companies assess the creditworthiness of their SME clients. “SMEs are underserved by affordable credit in Brazil and MOVA is tackling this issue,” Experian said in an announcement.

A full acquisition is still on the table. Experian has a call option to acquire the remaining 49% stake in MOVA between 2026 and 2028. In 2029, the deal reverts to a put option for MOVA.

Founded in 1980 and headquartered in Ireland, Experian offers a range of services for small businesses, including business credit reporting, marketing products and services, debt collection tools, and more. On the consumer-facing side, Experian offers credit reports and scores, identity theft protection, and a marketplace to compare credit card, loan, and insurance offers.

Photo by Rafaela Biazi on Unsplash

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LexisNexus Acquires Behavioral Biometrics Pioneer BehavioSec

LexisNexus Acquires Behavioral Biometrics Pioneer BehavioSec
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, BehavioSec, Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions
  • LexisNexis announced its acquisition of behavioral biometrics innovator BehavioSec. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
  • The acquisition adds to LexisNexis’ fraud and identity risk management capability following its 2018 acquisition of ThreatMetrix.
  • Sweden-based BehavioSec won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring in 2012.

Yesterday we shared the news that Finovate newcomer – and recent Best of Show winner – Long Game had been acquired by Truist. Today, we see that the M&A train continues to chug down the tracks with word that another Finovate alum that also won Best of Show in its Finovate debut – has been acquired.

BehavioSec, which won top honors in its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2012, has agreed to be acquired by LexisNexis Risk Solutions, a part of RELX. Among the pioneers in advanced behavioral biometrics, Sweden-based BehavioSec leverages behavioral analysis to provide continuous authentication to establish identity and prevent fraud. The company’s technology gives firms a passive method and frictionless approach to identity management, analyzing the complex mobile signals from touchscreens and sensors to seamlessly prevent fraud before it strikes.

“Behavioral biometrics is a valuable component in fraud prevention strategies that layer defenses to tighten the net that stops fraudsters,” LexisNexis Business Services CEO Rick Trainor explained. Complimenting BehavioSec as a “forerunner” in the behavioral biometrics industry that “continues to evolve and innovate,” Trainor added that “our combined customer base will benefit significantly from a blended behavioral biometrics solution within ThreatMetrix that offers more defense for customers without adding friction across the customer journey.”

Terms of the acquisition have not been made available. BehavioSec CEO Dr. Neil Costigan said that he is looking forward to “discovering the next phase in the evolution for behavioral biometrics alongside a successful, innovative company looking to further evolve our advanced capabilities.”

BehavioSec’s acquisition by LexisNexis Risk Solutions comes after a year of major activity for the company. Last summer, BehavioSec unveiled a new compliant, hosted version and a new cloud-native, SaaS version of its platform. The offering made it easier for more organizations to take advantage of BehavioSec’s anti-fraud technology, satisfying compliance requirements and embracing frictionless, multi-factor authentication. In May, the company launched new authentication and fraud detection capabilities via its BehavioSense platform. The platform features accelerated profile training, doppelgänger detection, enhanced mobile fraud detection, and predictive modeling.

“Our newest features respond to customer feedback and, frankly, market demands,” VP of Products at BehavioSec Jordan Blake said when the solution was introduced. “These features add to our platform’s existing anti-fraud capabilities and are designed to solve the COVID-19 era challenge of accelerated digital transformation, online security, and privacy regulation compliance.”

Photo by Markus Spiske

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Truist Acquires Finovate Best of Show Winner Long Game

Truist Acquires Finovate Best of Show Winner Long Game
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Long Game, Mergers & Acquisitions
  • Truist has acquired mobile savings gamification app, Long Game.
  • Long Game uses strategies from the prize-linked savings and mobile gamification worlds to drive customer engagement and increase brand loyalty for banks.
  • Long Game won Best of Show in its Finovate debut last September at FinovateFall 2021 in New York.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. But U.S.-based financial services company Truist announced today that it has acquired bank engagement and savings gamification app, Long Game.

“Truist’s commitment to help people build financial wellness is exactly what we are about at Long Game,” company co-founder and CEO Lindsay Holden said. “We’ve revolutionized bank engagement and are eager to apply ourselves to creating disruptive technologies that help Truist deliver a human touch in new ways.”

Long Game won Best of Show in its Finovate debut at FinovateFall in New York last year. The company offers a bank-branded mobile app that leverages the best practices from prize-linked savings and mobile gaming to help banks acquire new customers, boost customer engagement, and promote financial literacy – with a particular focus on Millennial and Gen Z customers.

Courtesy of the acquisition, Long Game’s team of engineers, designers, and business leaders will join Truist’s innovation team. Holden will lead a San Francisco, California-based crew of engineers, product managers, and designers as they develop new client-centric solutions.

“At Truist we are laser-focused on shaping the future of finance with innovative people and products – and democratizing entrepreneurial opportunity while we do it,” Vanessa Indriolo Vreeland of Truist Ventures said. “Long Game is a female-led business with a diverse team of incredibly talented innovators creating unique solutions to help people achieve financial confidence.”

The acquisition is designed to help Truist reach a younger demographic. Truist also sees Long Game’s technology as complementary to its workplace financial wellness program, Truist Momentum, that helps employees better manage their finances based on their goals and values. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, Truist was formed in 2019 as a result of the merger between BB&T and SunTrust Banks. Truist is a publicly traded company on the NYSE under the ticker symbol TFC. The firm has a market capitalization of $66 billion.

Learn more about Long Game! Check out our interview with company co-founder and CEO Lindsay Holden on the Finovate Podcast with Greg Palmer.

Photo by Pixabay

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Fintech Merger and Acquisition Activity Starts Strong in Q1 2022

Fintech Merger and Acquisition Activity Starts Strong in Q1 2022
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alkami Technology, Azimo, BeSmartee, FIS, Fiserv, HooYu, Mergers & Acquisitions, Mitek, MoneyGram, Plaid, Revolut, SecureKey, Segmint, Sezzle, StreetShares, Taulia, Trulioo, Wealthfront

While 2021 was a record year for fintech merger and acquisition (M&A) activity, 2022 is off to a great start.

According to FT Partners, there were 1,485 M&A deals in the fintech space totaling $348.5 billion in 2021. As Square’s $29 billion takeover of Afterpay demonstrated, last year’s massive volume is partially thanks to multiple large deals.

This quarter, only eight of the 21 deals initiated disclosed financial details. Of those, the deal volume added up to almost $5 billion.

January

February

March

While experts predict that 2022 M&A activity will likely see momentum from 2021, there are two aspects to watch out for this year. First, we will not see as many SPACs as we saw last year. This may decrease the number of companies choosing to exit this year. Second, fintech valuations are deflating after experiencing huge rises over the course of the past two years. While the loss in value won’t directly impact the number of M&A deals, it will decrease the deal volume.

Photo by Martin Lopez

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Mitek Agrees to Acquire UK-Based KYC Technology Innovator HooYu

Mitek Agrees to Acquire UK-Based KYC Technology Innovator HooYu
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: HooYu, Mergers & Acquisitions, Mitek
  • Digital identity verification and fraud prevention innovator Mitek has agreed to acquire KYC technology company HooYu.
  • Mitek will pay $129 million (£98 million) for the U.K.-based company.
  • Both firms are Finovate alums. Mitek made its most recent appearance at FinovateFall 2017. HooYu demoed its technology on the Finovate stage most recently at FinovateEurope 2018.

Mitek’s agreement to acquire KYC technology specialist HooYu will help businesses verify their customer’s identity via a combination of biometric verification and real-time bureau and sanction database checks. Enabling institutions to leverage biometrics, ID document validation, geolocation, and identity confidence scoring with bureau checks and sanction list reviews will help them secure a more complete picture of their consumers.

HooYu’s ability to coordinate these features will not only enhance the identity verification process for Mitek’s customers, the technology will also enable them to optimize workflows and empower companies to deploy identity solutions across channels faster.

“Having a single platform that easily orchestrates and configures a KYC journey to manage identities and identify bad actors is becoming a prerequisite for any business transacting digitally,” HooYu CEO Keith Marsden said. “Bringing together Mitek’s lead in identity, liveness, and biometrics, with our orchestration, configuration, and journey services simplifies identity management for financial institutions.”

Mitek’s acquisition of HooYu comes in the context of a global digital identity solutions market that is expected to grow from $23.3 billion in 2021 to $49.5 billion by 2026, a compound annual growth rate of 16.2%. MarketsandMarkets, whose digital identity solutions report was cited by Mitek in this week’s acquisition announcement, credited the rise in both identity-related fraud and data breaches, as well as the need to keep pace with new regulations, for the growth in this market.

Additionally, the rise of the cryptocurrency and NFT (non-fungible token) markets – and the new regulatory regime that will accompany them – puts a further strain on the compliance requirements of businesses. For all the legitimate activity in crypto and NFTs, there is no doubt that these growing markets also represent new opportunities for illicit and criminal behavior.

“Our current geopolitical, commercial, and technological environment represents a perfect storm for bad actors,” Mitek CEO Max Carnecchia said. “Mitek is leading the fight against fraud by providing the technology that businesses need to stamp out digital money launderers and sanctioned individuals.”

In 2018, HooYu demoed its verification technology at FinovateEurope in London. The year before, Mitek demoed its Mobile Verify technology at FinovateFall in New York.

Photo by Ann H

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Goldman Sachs to Acquire NextCapital

Goldman Sachs to Acquire NextCapital
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions
  • Goldman Sachs Asset Management is buying retirement planning and digital advice company NextCapital.
  • Goldman Sachs will integrate NextCapital’s platform into its Multi-Asset Solutions business, a group that offers custom, multi-asset portfolios.
  • Terms of the deal, which is expected to close in the latter half of this year, were not disclosed.

Goldman Sachs Asset Management has agreed to acquire retirement planning and digital advice company NextCapital in a transaction that is expected to close in the second half of this year.

Terms of the deal, which ranks among the top five asset management deals Goldman Sachs has ever done, were not disclosed.

Chicago-based NextCapital offers automated, digital retirement advice to help banks deliver personalized, customizable retirement planning and managed accounts through their clients’ workplace retirement plans and IRAs. Goldman Sachs, which already leverages NextCapital’s managed account platform to power its retirement program for SMBs, anticipates the purchase will expand its services by adding personalized, managed accounts, and digital advice.

By combining the two companies, Goldman Sachs will be able to provide services to large retirement plans while working with platform clients. As Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon explained, “This acquisition furthers our strategic objective of building compelling client solutions in asset management and accelerating our investment in technology to serve the growing defined contribution market.”

After the deal closes, Goldman Sachs will integrate NextCapital’s platform into its Multi-Asset Solutions business, a group with approximately $220 billion in assets under supervision that offers custom, multi-asset portfolios. The NextCapital team will continue to operate from offices in Chicago.

Founded in 2014, NextCapital has raised $82 million. “Our vision for the future of the retirement savings market is aligned with the team at Goldman Sachs: technology that can create a differentiated experience combined with a strong culture and focus on clients forms a powerful offering for our clients and the individuals they serve,” said NextCapital CEO John Patterson. “We can leverage the resources of a global financial services firm to continue to scale our platform and offer it to new third party institutional clients and Goldman Sachs’ broader wealth management organization.”

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

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HR and Payroll Company Papaya Global Buys Azimo

HR and Payroll Company Papaya Global Buys Azimo
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Azimo, Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions
  • HR and payroll platform Papaya Global has acquired global money transfer company Azimo.
  • The deal will allow Papaya Global to offer payments in hours instead of days.
  • Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Global money transfer company Azimo has agreed to be acquired by HR and payroll platform Papaya Global. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but TechCrunch is reporting a purchase price of somewhere between $150 million and $200 million.

The Israeli payroll company will leverage Azimo’s payment platform to offer clients a payroll solution that makes immediate payouts across the globe. “We will build an innovative new payments and finance offering for clients in cash advance and credit-related products, and in cryptocurrency,” the company said in a blog post. The purchase will also enable Papaya Global to add remittance services to its lineup.

Founded by Michael Kent in 2012, Azimo offers a low-priced way for individuals and businesses to send money across the globe. The U.K.-based company charges a fee as low as $0.77 (£0.59) and boasts a more favorable exchange rate, as well. Azimo counts more than two million customers of its digital money transfer platform, which allows users to send money from 25 countries to more than 200 countries and territories worldwide.

In addition to its payment network, Azimo has something Papaya Global may consider quite valuable– payment licenses in the U.K., the Netherlands, Canada, Australia, and Hong Kong. “Azimo’s global digital payment network, multiple payment licenses, and deep fintech expertise strengthens our ability to help companies manage and pay their remote teams,” said Papaya Global CEO Eynat Guez.

Azimo has raised $88.1 million in combined debt and equity. Financial terms of the deal, which will bring all of Azimo’s employees over to the Papaya Global team, were undisclosed.

Photo by Kaboompics .com

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Alkami Agrees to Acquire Financial Data Analytics Company Segmint

Alkami Agrees to Acquire Financial Data Analytics Company Segmint
By David Penn Posted on
Categories: Alkami Technology, Alumni News, Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions, Segmint
  • Alkami has entered a definitive agreement to acquire financial analytics company Segmint for $135.5 million in cash.
  • The acquisition will combine Segmint’s data insights with Alkami’s digital account opening and digital banking technology.
  • Both companies are Finovate alums. Alkami made its Finovate debut as iThryv in 2009. Segmint made its most recent Finovate appearance at FinovateFall in 2012.

Another day, another big acquisition in the fintech space. Today we learned that cloud-based digital banking solutions provider Alkami Technology has agreed to acquire Segmint, a financial data analytics and transaction cleansing specialist. Alkami will pay $135.5 million in cash for the Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio-based company, and expects its total addressable market to grow by $1 billion courtesy of the acquisition.

“Our customers want to deepen their customer relationships and grow revenue,” Allkami CEO Alex Shootman said. “To do so, they must transform raw account and transaction data into insights that lead to highly personalized communications. Segmint applies machine learning to transaction data to help FIs better understand their account holders and automates messaging with incredible precision and personalization across multiple channels.”

The acquisition will enable financial institutions partnered with Alkami to benefit from the combination of data sets from both Alkami and Segmint. In addition to providing a more comprehensive view of account holders, the combination also will bring greater precision and additional use cases to Segmint’s data models. Further, financial institutions will be able to use this data to leverage digital banking to better target, engage, and build customer relationships.

Approved by the boards of directors of both companies, as well as Segmint stockholders, the acquisition is expected to close in Q2 of this year – assuming regulatory approvals and customer closing conditions are met.

As we noted, the Alkami/Segmint acquisition is the second big fintech acquisition involving a Finovate alum this week. We reported yesterday that Canadian identity verification company – and Finovate Best of Show winner – SecureKey – agreed to be acquired by digital security and privacy company Avast.

Photo by Anthony

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Avast to Acquire Identity and Authentication Expert SecureKey Technologies

Avast to Acquire Identity and Authentication Expert SecureKey Technologies
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions, SecureKey
  • Avast will acquire SecureKey Technologies in a deal expected to close next month.
  • Czech Republic-based Avast will leverage SecureKey’s North American presence to expand internationally.
  • Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

SecureKey Technologies will soon begin its next chapter. The Canada-based digital identity and authentication company recently agreed to be acquired by NortonLifeLock’s Avast, a digital security and privacy firm. Financial terms of the deal are undisclosed.

Avast CEO Ondrej Vlcek said that he envisions leveraging SecureKey to create a global and reusable identity framework. “It’s clear that digital identity is the critical enabler for many digital services and SecureKey’s success reflects the growing demand for this from consumers,” said Vlcek. “SecureKey is highly complementary to Avast’s prior work in Identity and together we will take our offer to the next level, accelerating innovation and working to establish a user-focused, global approach that aligns user, business, and government propositions. We are committed to developing offerings that will be fully inclusive for everyone, regardless of their own circumstances.”

SecureKey was founded in 2008 with a mission to simplify consumer access to secure online services and applications using secure, digital versions of the credentials they already have. The company’s digital identity solutions enable over 200 million secure digital ID transactions per year globally.

SecureKey’s flagship tool, Verified.Me, is a digital identity verification network that helps users verify their digital identity and places them in control of what they want to share with whom. Verified.Me, which also comes with a Government sign-in feature, is provided by Interac, which acquired the rights to SecureKey’s digital ID services for Canada last October.

Avast was founded in 1988 and offers tools to help individuals and businesses protect the privacy of their digital lives. Headquartered in the Czech Republic, the company anticipates the acquisition will position it for international expansion. “As the European community is investing in public-private sector digital identity infrastructure in 2022 and beyond, we see Avast well positioned as a collaborative provider of digital trust services for people, digital businesses and government,” said Avast General Manager and SVP of Identity Charles Walton. “Success for us is where digital identity becomes simple, user-centric and portable, and can enable a more trustworthy digital experience and deeper online engagement benefiting both people and business.”

The deal is expected to close early next month. Avast plans to make SecureKey’s products available in the second quarter of this year.

Photo by Thirdman

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MeridianLink Acquires Small Business Lending Startup StreetShares

MeridianLink Acquires Small Business Lending Startup StreetShares
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions, StreetShares
  • Cloud-based software solutions provider MeridianLink acquired digital lending technology provider StreetShares.
  • MeridianLink will leverage StreetShares’ Atlas Platform, an embeddable digital lending environment for banks.
  • Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Cloud-based software solutions firm MeridanLink acquired small business lending technology provider StreetShares this week. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

StreetShares was founded in 2014 to serve as an alternative lending option for military veteran-owned small businesses. In 2019, the Virginia-based company pivoted, launching digital small business lending technology for banks and credit unions after piloting the offering with USAA in 2018.

The new tool, the Atlas Platform, enables banks to embed a digital business lending environment in 45 days or less. The platform enables community lenders to leverage their data to deliver a digital banking product experience to their small business customers. StreetShares built the platform specifically to serve the unique needs of small businesses and assist lenders with challenges such as underwriting.

“StreetShares’ commitment to providing lenders across the U.S. with state-of-the-art business lending capabilities, including business loans, automated decisioning, and business lines of credit, aligns with our focus on empowering more banks and credit unions to better serve consumers and communities,” said MeridianLink CEO Nicolaas Vlok. “Adding the StreetShares team, technology, and strong partnerships with organizations like Fiserv to the MeridianLink family will accelerate our small business lending capabilities and further strengthen our MeridianLink One platform.”

MeridianLink, which is owned by private equity firm Thoma Bravo, was founded in 1998 and offers cloud-based technology to its 1,900 financial institution clients. Nicolaas Vlock is CEO of the firm, which is listed publicly on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker MLNK and has a market capitalization of $1.47 billion.

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PayTech Company Shift4 Makes Two Acquisitions

PayTech Company Shift4 Makes Two Acquisitions
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions
  • Shift4 acquired Finaro and The Giving Block.
  • The company will leverage the two purchases to fuel global expansion and to deepen its cryptocurrency roots.
  • Shift4 expects the acquisitions will contribute $15 billion in payment volume in 2023.

Payments processing technology company Shift4 made two key acquisitions this week. The Pennsylvania-based firm snapped up cross-border ecommerce expert Finaro and cryptocurrency fundraising startup The Giving Block. Terms of the deals were not disclosed.

Shift4 said the move will position it to pursue growth in eCommerce, gaming, stadiums, restaurants, hospitality, specialty retail, charitable giving, and a new frontier– cryptocurrency enablement. The company expects the acquisitions will contribute $15 billion in payment volume in 2023.

“These two acquisitions… underscore our aggressive efforts to deliver a unified commerce experience across the world,” said Shift4 CEO Jared Isaacman. He also noted that the move gives the company “a real right-to-win additional customers across the nonprofit vertical. It also represents an exciting and responsible step towards further embracing cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology.”  

Malta-based Finaro was founded in 2007 as Credorax. The company is a global cross-border payments provider with four offices across the world. Finaro serves more than 5,000 merchant clients, 98% of which leverage Finaro for ecommerce capabilities. The company has a diverse team; its 370 employees represent 24 nationalities and speak 12 different languages. Shift4 will leverage Finaro to expand its existing services, notably its next-generation SkyTab POS solution, Shift4Shop eCommerce platform, and VenueNext stadium offering. 

The Giving Block was founded in 2018 with a mission to make Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency fundraising easy for nonprofits. The company, which is part of a recent rise in charitable giving-enablement, serves as a donation platform more than 1,300 non-profits ranging from mission-driven organizations, charities, universities, and faith-based organizations. The Giving Block is not just a transaction platform; the company also helps non-profits build community, raise awareness, and create campaigns to support their cause.

Shift4 will invest in The Giving Block’s existing business while combining crypto donation capabilities with traditional card acceptance and pursuing the non-profit market. Notably, Shift4 will tap The Giving Block’s crypto talent to establish a Crypto Innovation Center and integrate crypto acceptance and settlement capabilities across its own existing verticals.

Shift4 was founded in 1994 and is publicly listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker FOUR. The company’s market capitalization is $3.69 billion.

Photo by RODNAE Productions from Pexels

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BNPL Consolidates: Zip to Buy Sezzle

BNPL Consolidates: Zip to Buy Sezzle
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions, Sezzle
  • Consolidation in the Buy now, pay later (BNPL) industry continues as Zip agrees to acquire competitor Sezzle.
  • The deal values Sezzle at $355 million.
  • After the acquisition is finalized, Sezzle will rebrand to Zip and the company’s CEO Charlie Youakim will lead Zip’s U.S. business.

Buy now, pay later (BNPL) player Zip (formerly known as Quadpay) is acquiring Sezzle in a deal that values Sezzle at $355 million.

Zip CEO and co-founder Larry Diamond expects the deal will help Zip scale up its operations. “Combining with Sezzle positions us as a leading global BNPL provider and prioritizes our ability to win in the important U.S. market.”

Following the deal, Zip’s customer base will increase from 9.9 million to 13.3 million and the number of merchant partners will grow from 82,000 to 129,000. Additionally, The Financial Review estimates that Zip’s total transaction volume will rise from $8 billion to $10.4 billion, and that almost $6.5 billion of this will be from U.S. users.

After the deal closes, Sezzle will rebrand as Zip and the company’s CEO Charlie Youakim will lead Zip’s U.S. business. “I believe the transaction will position us to win in the U.S. and globally,” Youakim said.

Today’s announcement is yet another indication of consolidation in the increasingly-crowded BNPL space. Industry giant Afterpay sold to Block (formerly Square) on February 2nd. And on February 17th, digital payments firm Latitude agreed to acquire Humm’s BNPL operations.

Australia-based Zip was founded in 2013, seven years before BNPL took off as an alternative payment method. Zip is publicly traded on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASK) under the ticker ZIP. The company allows users to split their purchase into four installments over the course of six weeks. With Zip’s app, shoppers use their Zip Virtual Card to pay for their purchase in installments anywhere that Visa is accepted, both online and in-store.

Similarly, Sezzle allows shoppers to use their Sezzle Virtual Card to pay for purchases in four installments over the course of six weeks. The company also offers a long-term financing tool in partnership with Ally and Sezzle Up, an alternative credit solution that helps shoppers build their credit.

Minnesota-based Sezzle was founded in 2016 and went public on the ASK in 2019 under the ticker SZL. At the time, Sezzle said it opted to list on the ASX instead of in U.S. markets because, prior to 2020, the BNPL model was more commonplace in Australia, given that Afterpay, a major player in the BNPL arena, is headquartered in Melbourne.

Photo by Jessica Lewis on Unsplash

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