In the latest development, Rapyd, a London-based Fintech as a Service company, has agreed to acquire Valitor, an Icelandic payments solutions company, from Arion Banki (Arion Bank) for $100 million (approx £73 million).
Valitor provides both in-store and online payments acceptance solutions and card issuing to SMB merchants in Iceland, the UK and Ireland, and across Europe.
How this acquisition benefits Rapyd?
The UK company plans to streamline integration of omnichannel payments, expand into new markets, flatten FX fees, unlocking revenue and growth potential that would otherwise be inaccessible to them.
By leveraging Rapyd’s Collect, Disburse, Wallet, and Issuing capabilities, Valitor businesses and merchants can expand into a broad set of new use cases and services, quickly enter new markets.
Furthermore, Rapyd is actively pursuing acquisition opportunities, targeting strong payments companies following their $300 million (approx £218 million) financing round in January.
Fintech as a Service
Founded in 2016 by Arik Shtilman, Arkady Karpman, and Omer Priel, Rapyd embeds fintech services into any application and simplifies the complexity of offering local payment methods.
Furthermore, the company is unifying fragmented payment systems worldwide by bringing together 900-plus payment methods in over 100 countries.
Secured £341M
So far, the company has raised $470 million (approx £341 million) funding from Stripe, General Catalyst, Oak HC/FT, Tiger Global, Durable Capital, Target Global, and Tal Capital.
“Businesses are looking beyond their borders to scale up and expand their customer base, and they need the right payment providers that can make it happen quickly. With the acquisition of Valitor, customers across Europe will now have access to a greater and more diverse set of payment offerings, ensuring that more companies can take advantage of any opportunity they wish to pursue,” said Arik Shtilman, Rapyd co-founder and CEO. “Iceland has long distinguished itself as a cashless nation and an innovation hub, with extraordinary levels of talent and a developed payments ecosystem. We plan to continue to grow and invest in Iceland, making it our European Hub, and will support local merchants while increasing our reach across Europe so that we can provide payment solutions to any business committed to pursuing global success.”
Benedikt Gislason, Arion Bank’s CEO commented on the announced transaction: “It has been our long-stated intention to find a new and more appropriate home for Valitor. In Rapyd, we have found exactly that. A highly strategic partner, at the forefront of technological innovation and with complementary strengths to those of Valitor. I would like to thank our Valitor colleagues for their co-operation and wish them best of luck on their new adventures as part of the Rapyd Group.”
“Today’s announcement marks a landmark moment in Valitor’s long history. This is a game-changing transaction for the Icelandic payments market. The Valitor management team is excited about the future prospects and very much look forward to closely working with Arik and the broader Rapyd team on the integration of the two businesses”, added Herdís Fjeldsted, Valitor’s CEO.
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