Payment platform Paysafe has signed a definitive agreement to acquire German financial technology business Viafintech for an undisclosed amount.
Paysafe said the all-cash transaction would expand its growth prospects in Germany and create revenue-generating opportunities to cross-sell viafintech’s alternative banking and payments solutions to its merchants around the world.
Founded in 2011, Viafintech operates under the brands of Barzahlen/Viacash and Viacash, offering financial services across the Austria, Germany, and Switzerland (DACH) region.
Viafintech also has a presence in a number of other European countries and operates via a network of 20,000 points of sale with over 20 retail partners, and also has relationships in the banking, bill payments and ecommerce industries.
Paysafe said the combination of Viafintech’s banking framework and market position in Germany and elsewhere in Europe, together with Paysafe’s payments portfolio and global merchant base, is expected to create growth opportunities for each organisation in Europe and beyond.
“We believe the team are perfectly positioned to take advantage of the shift away from the legacy banking system in Germany and beyond as more and more challenger banks enter the market and consumers opt to use mobile-based solutions for banking and payments,” Paysafe’s ecash and open banking chief executive Udo Müller said.
“By combining Viafintech’s leading solutions with our existing eCash and APM portfolio, we are well positioned as an essential payments partner to challenger banks around the world as consumer banking habits continue to evolve.”
As part of the deal, viafintech’s team, including managing directors Sebastian Seifert, Achim Bönsch and Andreas Veller, will form part of Paysafe’s eeash and open banking solutions team, which is headed up by Müller.
In addition, viafintech’s former majority shareholder – cash technology solutions provider Glory Ltd – will enter a new strategic partnership with Paysafe. Glory will offer paysafecard, one of Paysafe’s ecash solutions, as a form of payment within its in-store payments kiosks, while Paysafe will offer Glory’s cash technology solutions to its merchants.
Meanwhile, Grenke Bank AG, which has been providing viafintech’s German bank licence and regulatory framework since 2017, as well as being a shareholder of the company, will continue to provide the same banking service going forward.
Viafintech co-founder Seifert added: “We are delighted to become part of the Paysafe Group and believe this move will enable us to build on our business achievements to date and accelerate our future growth as Europe’s number one, non-banking, cash-in/cash-out infrastructure, further fuelling the shift away from legacy banking and driving more financial inclusion in general.”
Subject to customary closing conditions, the deal is expected to close in the coming months.
The deal comes after Paysafe last week also announced its acquisition of ecommerce payment provider SafetyPay in an all-cash transaction. SafetyPay provides ecommerce transactions through open banking and ecash solutions in 11 Latin American countries.
This followed an agreement to acquire Peruvian alternative payment platform PagoEfectivo in a deal set to close this month.
