Mobile payment technology providers Payleven and SumUp, which boast a raft of corporate backers between them, agreed yesterday to merge.
Both UK-based SumUp and Germany-based Payleven were founded in 2012 and provide card readers that can connect to mobile devices, enabling small and medium-sized businesses to accept payments anywhere.
SumUp had raised a total of $56m, most recently securing $11.2m in an August 2015 round backed by online deals provider Groupon, payment services firm American Express and BBVA Ventures, the venture capital arm of financial services provider BBVA.
The company’s other investors include Tengelmann Ventures, the corporate venturing subsidiary of retailer Tengelmann, Life Sreda, which acts as Life Financial Group’s venture capital unit, Venture Incubator, B-to-V Partners, Shortcut Ventures and angel investor Klaus Hommels.
Payleven had raised $51m, as of a $10m round in February this year featuring MePay, a joint venture of e-commerce holding company Rocket Internet and mobile network Smart Communication, as well as Holtzbrinck Ventures, Seventure Partners, Ru-Net, B Cinque and New Enterprise Associates.
The merged company will operate as SumUp and will oversee a business responsible for processing more than €1bn ($1.1bn) in payments each year across a total of 15 countries. It will look to combine SumUo’s hardware and payment platform with Payleven’s strength in merchant acquisition.
Daniel Klein, SumUp’s founder, will be chief executive of the merged company. He said: “Today’s announcement is a game-changer for the mobile payments industry. It is another step towards delivering on our vision of creating the first ever global card acceptance brand.”
Konstantin Wolff, co-founder of Payleven, said: “The new entity will be larger and more powerful than the sum of the parts and be perfectly positioned to build a global leader in the space. With our shared know-how of the mobile payment space, we look forward to continue exceeding customer and partner expectations alike worldwide.”
– Photo courtesy of SumUp Payments Ltd.