Payments & Fintech Acquisitions in 2021

New York-based private equity firm Stella Point Capital has made a growth investment in Autoagent, a Boca Raton–based provider of cloud tax payment and data solutions. The capital will be used to expand Autoagent’s payments revenue stream, increase penetration into taxing jurisdictions, grow its data footprint, and support regional expansion and future acquisitions while the existing management team remains in place.

CompoSecure Holdings, Inc. completed its previously announced business combination with Roman DBDR Tech Acquisition Corp. on December 27, 2021, and the combined company began trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker CMPO on December 28, 2021. The transaction takes CompoSecure public via the SPAC, positioning the company to accelerate growth in premium payment cards and its Arculus cryptocurrency storage and security product line.

Eckoh plc has completed the acquisition of Syntec Holdings Ltd (Syntec) for approximately £31m ($41m). The deal adds Syntec's CardEasy contact-centre payment solution, patents and team to Eckoh's secure payments and customer engagement portfolio, strengthening product capabilities and accelerating cloud growth and US market expansion.

Kraken has acquired Staked, a non-custodial staking infrastructure provider, for an undisclosed sum to expand its staking product lineup and offer a non-custodial alternative to its custodial staking services. The deal strengthens Kraken's capabilities across additional proof-of-stake networks and brings Staked's institutional and retail clients into Kraken's broader crypto platform.

Rocket Companies agreed to acquire Truebill, a personal-finance app, for $1.275 billion in cash. The acquisition adds Truebill’s financial-wellness capabilities and ~2.5 million members to Rocket’s platform to deepen client engagement and is expected to add about $100 million in annual recurring revenue to Rocket.

OFX Group Limited has agreed to acquire 100% of Canadian foreign exchange and payments provider Firma Foreign Exchange Corporation for C$90 million. The acquisition adds over 9,600 corporate clients, increases OFX's North America revenue substantially, and is expected to be accretive to EPS while delivering cost and revenue synergies.

FirstCash Holdings, Inc. has completed its acquisition of American First Finance (AFF), adding AFF as a wholly owned subsidiary and establishing FirstCash's entry into the lease-to-own and point-of-sale payment space. AFF brings a nationwide network of over 6,500 merchant partner locations and technology for "no credit required" retail financing; Doug Rippel, AFF's founder and former chairman, joined the FirstCash Board following the close.

Flywire Corporation has acquired WPM (WPM Education Limited), a U.K.-based payments and software provider for higher education, to deepen its presence in the U.K. education market and expand its product suite. The deal adds WPM’s client base of more than 170 universities and colleges and brings strategic consulting, research and events capabilities into Flywire’s global payments platform.

Klarna has acquired Piggy, a browser-extension digital commerce technology that provides coupons and cashback to shoppers. The acquisition is intended to accelerate Klarna's browser-extension offering and integrate Piggy's coupon and savings capabilities into Klarna's payments and shopping experiences.

Celero Commerce acquired Florida-based Everest Payment Solutions, a national provider of payment processing services, expanding Celero's merchant footprint and capabilities. With the acquisition Celero will serve over 45,000 merchants and process more than $18 billion in annual card volume, while combining Everest's local, bundled technology solutions with Celero's platform and business management tools.

Dock, a Brazilian fintech infrastructure provider, has completed the acquisition of Cacao, a Mexican card processing solutions provider. The acquisition expands Dock’s footprint in Mexico and Latin America and brings Cacao’s card issuing and card management capabilities (over four million cards issued and 50+ clients) onto Dock’s integrated payments and banking platform.

Pollen Street Capital has made a strategic growth investment in Blue Media S.A., the Polish online payments group behind the Blue Media and Autopay brands. The minority growth investment will support Blue Media’s expansion across European payments and mobility use-cases; the deal (advised by PwC for Blue Media and EY/Clifford Chance for Pollen Street) was expected to close in H1 2022 subject to regulatory approvals.

Paymentology and Tutuka have merged to form a unified global issuer-processor operating under the Paymentology name, combining their platforms, teams and reach to serve banks, fintechs and telcos across 49 countries. The combined business brings together Paymentology's multi-cloud processing platform with Tutuka's global experience to offer single-API card issuing and processing at scale.

Fullsteam Holdings LLC, a payments technology and vertical software holding company owned by Aquiline Capital Partners, closed a minority investment from Sixth Street. The growth investment will support Fullsteam's integrated payments platform and continued expansion of its vertical software portfolio across healthcare, field services, specialty retail and other SMB markets.

Stax, the Orlando-based all-in-one payments technology provider, has acquired CardX, a Chicago-based automated credit-card surcharging platform. The acquisition integrates CardX's compliance and dynamic-fee capabilities into Stax's payments stack, expands Stax's footprint with a new Chicago office, and brings CardX's ~2,600 merchant customers onto the Stax network.

SumUp, the London-based payments provider, completed its acquisition of San Francisco-based Fivestars on October 28, 2021 for $317 million in cash and stock. The deal gives SumUp its first U.S. presence and integrates Fivestars' payments, loyalty and marketing automation platform while Fivestars' leadership, including CEO Victor Ho, remain in place.

Mad Mobile has acquired TableSafe, a mobile pay-at-the-table solution that enables EMV-certified and P2PE-compliant contactless and card payments. The acquisition expands Mad Mobile's restaurant mobility platform by adding in-table payment capabilities, analytics and access to TableSafe's restaurant customers.

SEI (NASDAQ: SEIC) has acquired Finomial, a cloud-native investor lifecycle management fintech, to enhance SEI’s investor-focused platforms and accelerate automation, reporting and digital collaboration capabilities. Finomial founder Meredith Moss and a team of approximately 42 engineers, developers, cloud specialists and client service personnel from the U.S. and India will join SEI to support integration and product expansion.

Gilde Buy Out Partners, through newly formed Solidus BidCo S.p.A. (and Solidus HoldCo S.p.A.), has entered into agreements to acquire GUM International S.r.l. and a stake in 2BP S.r.l., which together control OWL S.p.A., the controlling shareholder of TAS S.p.A. Upon closing, BidCo will launch a mandatory tender offer at EUR 2.20 per TAS share (implying a TAS interest value of ~EUR 134.5m) with the aim of delisting TAS and supporting accelerated growth and international expansion; management (Bravi Consulting and Umberto Pardi) will reinvest and participate in the HoldCo.

Bakkt Holdings, LLC completed its business combination with special purpose acquisition company VPC Impact Acquisition Holdings, and the combined company began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on October 18, 2021 under the ticker BKKT. The transaction generated approximately $448 million in gross proceeds to Bakkt; Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) maintains an approximately 68% economic interest and a minority voting interest in the combined company.

The Western Union Company acquired a 15% minority stake in stc Bank for $200 million, marking a strategic minority investment to deepen its presence in the Middle East payments ecosystem. The deal extends an existing commercial partnership—Western Union will provide cross-border money transfer capabilities to stc Bank's app as stc Bank launches as one of Saudi Arabia's first digital banks.

Persistent Systems acquired Software Corporation International (SCI) and its affiliate Fusion360, adding a dedicated payments business unit and expanding its cloud and payments capabilities. The deal brings deep payments domain expertise and IBM Financial Transaction Manager (FTM) application capabilities into Persistent's global digital engineering and enterprise modernization services.

Priority Technology Holdings (NASDAQ: PRTH) has completed the acquisition of Finxera Holdings, a pioneer in Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) and payments infrastructure. The deal combines Priority's merchant acquiring and payments capabilities with Finxera's BaaS platform to create an expanded payments and virtual-banking offering; Finxera shareholders, including funds managed by Stone Point Capital and Finxera management, will retain meaningful equity positions in Priority.

Fortis Payment Systems (FortisPay) has acquired OmniFund, a cloud-based Payments-as-a-Platform provider. The acquisition will expand FortisPay's commerce technology capabilities and deepen its integrations with software partners and ERP solutions; OmniFund's CEO Stacy Roderick and her team will join FortisPay.

NMI, a global commerce enablement and payments technology platform, received a significant growth-equity investment from Insight Partners, joining existing investors Francisco Partners and Great Hill Partners. The company will remain led by CEO Vijay Sondhi and management (who also reinvested); the capital will be used to accelerate product development, global expansion, and NMI's acquisition strategy.

Mastercard has acquired CipherTrace, a cryptocurrency intelligence company, to strengthen its digital assets security, fraud detection and compliance capabilities. The deal integrates CipherTrace’s blockchain analytics and intelligence with Mastercard’s AI, cyber and payments infrastructure to provide greater transparency and regulatory support for customers; terms were not disclosed.

Global Payments Inc. agreed to acquire MineralTree, a provider of accounts payable automation and B2B payments SaaS, for $500 million in cash. The acquisition expands Global Payments' B2B payments and AP automation capabilities and is expected to close pending customary approvals.

Waitr Holdings Inc. completed asset acquisitions of payment processors ProMerchant, Flow Payments and Cape Cod Merchant Services to expand its payments capability for restaurant partners. The deal supports Waitr’s strategy to offer a full suite of payment services — including processing, loyalty, gift cards and merchant lending — across its restaurant ecosystem.

NextPlay Technologies (Nasdaq: NXTP) entered into a definitive agreement to acquire 100% of the assets of Token IQ to integrate Token IQ's smart compliant token technology into NextPlay's fintech and ICO portal offerings, including its NextBank business. The acquisition is intended to enhance NextPlay's digital-asset management, KYC/AML capabilities and support integration across its gaming, fintech and travel ecosystem.

Falfurrias Capital Partners has made a majority investment in Chargeback Gurus, a Texas-based provider of chargeback prevention and recovery services for eCommerce and card-not-present merchants. Falfurrias will support Chargeback Gurus' expansion of industry verticals and geographies and invest in technology, sales, and service enhancements; Leonis Partners served as financial advisor to Chargeback Gurus.

Cantaloupe, Inc. (Nasdaq: CTLP) acquired the assets of Delicious Nutritious LLC, dba Yoke Payments, a Los Angeles–based micro-market payments and POS software provider. The acquisition integrates Yoke’s kiosk and mobile point-of-sale technology into Cantaloupe’s Seed Markets platform to extend self-checkout capabilities and expand micro‑market offerings.

Paysafe (NYSE:PSFE) has agreed to acquire SafetyPay in an all-cash transaction valued at USD 441 million, strengthening Paysafe’s eCash and open banking capabilities in Latin America. The deal brings SafetyPay’s team and network into Paysafe’s eCash and open banking division to accelerate regional expansion and cross-selling opportunities across Paysafe’s payments, wallet and gateway solutions.

U.S. Bank has agreed to acquire Bento Technologies (Bento for Business), a fintech company that provides card-based payments and automated expense management for small and mid-size businesses. The acquisition is intended to integrate Bento’s accounts-payable and expense management capabilities with U.S. Bank’s existing payments and receivables solutions to offer a more comprehensive cash-management experience for SMB clients.

Flexpoint Ford led an equity investment of up to C$150 million in PayFacto Payments Inc., with participation from BMO Capital Partners. The growth capital will fund PayFacto's U.S. expansion, product development (including a cloud-based POS), and future acquisitions to accelerate its payments and POS strategy.

EVO Payments, Inc. has completed the acquisition of Anderson Zaks Limited, a UK-based omnichannel payment gateway. The deal expands EVO’s tech-enabled payment capabilities and broadens its independent software vendor (ISV) network across the UK, Ireland and Continental Europe; terms were not disclosed.

Miami-based fintech Greenbox Capital has acquired Level Up Funding to strengthen its alternative lending capabilities and accelerate product expansion. The deal brings Level Up's founders and staff into Greenbox to help roll out a line-of-credit product, expand into new international markets, and enhance Greenbox's proprietary lending platform, The Box.

Visa Inc. completed the acquisition of Currencycloud, a London-based cloud payments and FX API platform, to strengthen Visa's foreign-exchange and cross-border payments capabilities. Currencycloud will continue to operate from its London headquarters and serve banks, fintechs and businesses globally; the deal builds on an existing strategic partnership between the two companies.

Payroc WorldAccess (Payroc), a global payments processor, has acquired DCS Holdings Group, LLC d/b/a ACHeck21, a St. Charles, Missouri-based provider of ACH, check capture and verification technology. The acquisition expands Payroc's integrated payments capabilities by adding ACHeck21's eCheck/ACH platform and open API to Payroc's card and eCheck offerings.

PROG Holdings, the fintech holding company behind Progressive Leasing and Vive Financial, has acquired Four Technologies (Four), a Miami/Aventura-based Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) platform. The acquisition adds BNPL capabilities to PROG's suite of payment solutions to expand retailer payment options and diversify its consumer fintech offerings; terms were not disclosed.

Quext, a Lubbock-based proptech platform, acquired a majority stake in fintech Viva Equity to integrate Viva's digital banking products (Viva First and Relm) and embedded finance capabilities into Quext’s multi-family property management platform. The deal aims to improve resident financial inclusion—particularly for Latino, student and underserved renter communities—while reducing operating costs for multi-family operators through embedded payments and banking features.

PureCars, a martech and advertising intelligence provider backed by Diversis Capital Partners and Stage 1 Ventures, acquired automotive fintech SaaS provider truPayments on July 12, 2021. The deal integrates truPayments' shopping personalization and payment-shopping capabilities into PureCars' martech stack to give dealerships expanded payment data, improved digital retailing and earlier shopper conversion.

Sunlight Financial closed its previously announced business combination with Spartan Acquisition Corp. II, creating Sunlight Financial Holdings Inc., which will begin trading on the NYSE under the ticker SUNL. The transaction was supported by Spartan's cash-in-trust and a $250 million PIPE from institutional and accredited investors; Spartan is sponsored by funds managed by an affiliate of Apollo Global Management.

Prophecy DeFi Inc. completed the acquisition of 60% of the issued and outstanding common shares of Layer2 Blockchain Inc., issuing 25,000,000 Prophecy common shares to Layer2 shareholders as consideration. The majority stake gives Prophecy control to accelerate Layer2's DeFi operations — including liquidity provisioning, market making, cross-chain arbitrage and staking — as part of Prophecy's broader decentralized finance investment ecosystem.

Payoneer Inc. completed a business combination with special purpose acquisition company FTAC Olympus Acquisition Corp., creating the new public entity Payoneer Global Inc. The combined company began trading on Nasdaq under the ticker symbols PAYO and PAYOW and the transaction included a $300 million PIPE from investors including Wellington Management, Dragoneer, Fidelity, Franklin Templeton, Millennium, T. Rowe Price and Winslow Capital.

Payroc WorldAccess, LLC acquired the debit payment routing intelligence and team from Beanstalk Payment Technologies, integrating Beanstalk’s cloud-based API and analytics into Payroc’s full-stack payment platform. The acquisition is intended to expand Payroc’s debit routing and cost-optimization capabilities for merchants, payfacs, and ISVs.

EQT Growth (via EQT AB) has invested in Mollie as part of the company’s $800 million Series C financing that values the Amsterdam-based payments provider at about $6.5 billion. The growth investment will support Mollie’s continued product and engineering investment and accelerate its geographic expansion across Europe as it scales its payments platform for SMEs and e-commerce merchants.

Repay Holdings Corporation (REPAY) acquired Kontrol Payables for up to $11 million (approximately $8 million paid at closing) to expand its B2B accounts payable automation and payments capabilities. Kontrol, founded in 2011, provides integrated AP automation with 30+ ERP integrations and a supplier network of over 13,000, and is expected to process roughly $300 million of virtual card volume in 2021.

Deluxe Corporation agreed to acquire First American Payment Systems from Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board and Stella Point Capital for $960 million in an all-cash transaction. The deal expands Deluxe's merchant acquiring and omnichannel payments capabilities, bringing a large base of SMB merchants and enhanced payments technology into Deluxe's portfolio.

Fortis Payment Systems (FortisPay) has acquired EpicPay International, LLC and Change Merchant Solutions, LLC to add PayFac capabilities and expand its integrated commerce offerings. The deals combine EpicPay's payment facilitation platform and CMS's omnichannel partnerships with FortisPay's Zeamster gateway to provide a unified payments and commerce stack for ISVs, developers and merchants.

GreenBox POS (NASDAQ: GBOX) has acquired Northeast Merchant Services for $2.5 million in cash plus a $0.5 million earn-out, adding over 700 retail merchant accounts to GreenBox's payments platform. The deal preserves existing BIN sponsorship by Merrick Bank and continued access to First Data's processing platform, accelerating GreenBox's build-out of a retail merchant portfolio in New England and upstate New York.