Rapyd, a fintech-as-a-service startup, has entered into an agreement to buy PayU’s Global Payments Organisation for $610 million.
Rapyd, a digital payment processing and infrastructure company, offers comprehensive products encompassing the entire payment spectrum, from accepting ecommerce payments to providing various financial solutions like payouts, FX, white label wallets, and card issuing. This transaction will enable Rapyd to expand its presence in Central and Eastern Europe and Latin America significantly. Moreover, it will grant access to relevant underlying licenses and payment processing infrastructure to bolster its operations.
PayU, the e-payments and fintech arm of Prosus, a prominent global consumer internet group and major technology investor, has been a pioneer in the online payment service sector for the past two decades. Operating in over 50 high-growth markets, PayU has been dedicated to delivering cutting-edge financial services specifically tailored to meet the needs of more than 450,000 merchants and millions of consumers.
PayU’s GPO business provides advanced ecommerce payment solutions for global merchants in over 30 countries across Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe and Africa. The business contributes around 30% of PayU’s overall revenues. In FY23, total payment volumes for GPO grew 12% year-on-year to US$34bn. This is around 3x growth in 5 years.
The transaction allows PayU to concentrate on the significant payments and fintech potential in India, where it holds a leading position as the preferred payments provider for over 450,000 merchants and caters to more than 2 million credit customers. This deal comes after the recent impressive performance of Prosus’s Payments and Fintech segment, which achieved a remarkable 52% consolidated revenue growth, reaching US$903 million in FY23.
According to Bob van Dijk, Prosus and Naspers Chief Executive Officer said, “PayU’s GPO business has grown considerably in recent years, with payment volumes growing more than 300% in the past five years alone. The business occupies a strong position in the global fintech space as a result of the investments made in building an exceptional local payments business, with global scale.”
“We are now fully focused on the huge fintech opportunity in India, where PayU is the leading payments service provider and is rapidly expanding its credit offering. Innovation and progressive regulation are driving rapid change within the digital payments industry in India, and we see many new opportunities to further expand our business there. As one of the fastest-growing major economies in the world, we strongly believe in digital India and are excited about the next phase of growth for PayU in India.”Laurent le Moal, PayU Chief Executive Officer said:
“As we focus our investment on the Indian market, this is an exciting time for Prosus’s Payments & Fintech segment. PayU’s payments business is one of the largest, fastest growing and most profitable businesses in India among non-banking players, delivering 42% year on year growth in the last year alone. Overall, India’s digital financial services opportunity continues to be large and under-penetrated, offering healthy growth for the PayU India business. In areas like lending and digital credit products, where PayU India already supports 2m customers and over 450,000 merchants, we see strong growth potential for the future.”
