Payoneer just bought a cloud-based payments platform, and its CEO says more strategic acquisitions are on his to-do list
- Payoneer, a cross-border payments fintech, just bought Munich-based payments platform Optile.
- Payoneer provides an international payments platform for businesses to send and receive money from suppliers and freelancers.
- Optile provides a cloud-based payments platform where businesses can set up several payments options for their customers.
- Founded in 2010, Optile will continue to operate as an independent team in Munich, Galit said. The companies did not disclose the value of the acquisition.
- Payoneer has been profitable for some time, and Galit told Business Insider that strategic acquisitions like this are on his list of to-do's before considering an IPO.
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Payments company Payoneer just bought a Munich-based platform called Optile, adding capabilities for online businesses to set up cross-border payments options for their customers.
Payoneer helps businesses send and receive money from suppliers and freelancers, and its customers include Amazon, Airbnb, and online freelancer marketplace Fiverr.
Airbnb, for example, uses Payoneer to send and receive money from its hosts. And freelancers on Fiverr have the ability to receive payments via Payoneer.
We talked with Payoneer CEO Scott Galit, who said he and his team were looking for an acquisition to gain access to the customer-facing side of those clients' businesses.
"We're able to help them on the B2B side, but we've never been able to help them with their sales to consumers and buyers around the world," he said.
Optile offers a cloud-based payment platform where businesses can set up several payments options for their customers. An ecommerce company expanding to a new country, for example, could add that country's popular payment methods to its online checkout.
Founded in 2010, Optile will continue to operate as an independent team in Munich, Galit said. The companies did not disclose the value of the acquisition.
"What excites me about this deal is that it's very complimentary," Daniel Smeds, founder and CEO of Optile, told Business Insider.
The two companies will continue to offer their services independently, but Galit said Payoneer would help Optile to scale its business using its existing network of customers.
"As a founder, it's very important that I have the feeling that when I'm losing a little bit of control, I'm getting a lot of things back," Smeds said.
Payoneer was founded in 2005 and has been profitable for some time, Galit told Business Insider in an October interview.
It's not currently planning an initial public offering, but Galit - who started his career in investment banking - said the company has been talking about it for some time. But before entering the public markets, Galit will look to expand Payoneer's platform through product development and acquisitions.
"We've started to think about accelerating some of our ability to deliver more value with acquisitions," he said. "So I think that as we start to make some more acquisitions, you'll start to see an IPO becoming a more active topic of conversation."
B2b growth and platforms
The B2B space is crowded, and the fintechs serving the business segment are looking to do more to stay competitive and increase customer stickiness.
While there are varied approaches to serving large and small businesses, these founders tend to tell a similar story: there has been less innovation in the business segment, and there's an opportunity to challenge incumbent players by offering tech-forward business services.
Small business lender BlueVine launched its own small business banking product and announced a $102 million fundraise this fall. Rho launched this year, hoping to become the go-to digital bank for startups. Its founders said their own experiences opening business bank accounts with incumbent players was the inspiration for the company.
TransferWise, a UK-based payments startup, offers international money transfers to consumers. While the $3.5 billion fintech has focused on direct-to-consumer plays, it has integrated with European and US banks to reach the banks' customers through their own platforms.
Bill.com, a cloud-based payments mangement platform for businesses, is planning an IPO for this week.