Web browser Opera to buy digital challenger Fjord Bank - FinTech Futures

#fintech #acquisitions #neobanks #challengerbanks #digitalbanks #mergersandacquisitions

Opera , a freeware web browser founded in Norway, intends to buy Lithuania-based fintech start-up Fjord Bank.

The digital challenger was founded in 2017 by Norwegian and Swedish investors Svein Ovrebo, Joakim Mandorsson and Stig Myrseth.

The deal, agreed in May, saw Opera acquire a 9.9% interest in Fjord Bank via a share subscription on 3 July 2020. The acquisition of the remaining 90.1% of Fjord Bank is pending regulatory approval.

In December 2019, the digital challenger landed a specialised bank licence from the European Central Bank (ECB).

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Web browser Opera to buy digital challenger Fjord Bank - FinTech Futures

Opera, a freeware web browser founded in Norway, intends to buy Lithuania-based fintech start-up Fjord Bank. The digital challenger was founded in 2017.

Startup Mergers & Acquisitions: SaaS Unicorn Freshworks Acquires Pune Based Cloud Platform 'Flint'

#startups #itsystems #enterprisetech #mergersandacquisitions #acquisitions

#SaaS #unicorn Freshworks has acquired Pune-based cloud platform Flint for an undisclosed amount.

Founded by Ankur Gakkhar and Abhishek Pande in 2013, Flint offers an enterprise-grade IT operations system and an intuitively designed dashboard.

Founded by Girish Mathrubootham and Shan Krishnasamy in 2010, Freshworks (previously called Freshdesk) has more than 150K clients across the world and is now looking for an IPO.

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SaaS Unicorn Freshworks Acquires Pune Based Cloud Platform 'Flint'

SaaS unicorn Freshworks has acquired Pune-based cloud platform Flint for an undisclosed amount. Freshworks said that this acquisition will strengthen its IT service management (ITSM) and IT operations management (ITOM) capacity. Founded by Ankur Gakkhar and Abhishek Pande in 2013, Flint offers an enterprise-grade IT operations system and an intuitively designed dashboard.

Ampere Vehicles Eyes Electric Three-Wheeler Space With Bestway Agencies' Acquisition

#ev #electricvehicles #startups #mergersandacquisitions #acquisitions #electricmobility

Ampere Electric Vehicles, a wholly-owned electric mobility subsidiary of Greaves Cotton Limited, has acquired 74% stake in Noida-based electric three-wheeler company BESTWAY AGENCIES PRIVATE LIMITED for INR 7 Cr. The deal is subject to customary closing conditions, the companies have clarified.

Through this acquisition, Ampere Electric Vehicles will venture into the electric rickshaw segment to enforce a strong presence in both electric two and three wheelers. Moreover, the acquisition will also allow it to offer a complete product portfolio to its #B2B customers who have requirements for electric three wheelers as well for both people and cargo mobility.

Ampere was founded in 2008 by Hemalatha Annamalai. The company raised an undisclosed amount from Ratan Tata in 2015. It has so far raised $200 Mn funding and counts Tata, and Chairman Axilor Ventures Senapathy “Kris” Gopalakrishnan as its key investors. Mumbai-based engineering company Greaves Cotton had acquired the company in 2018.

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Ampere Vehicles Eyes Electric Three-Wheeler Space With Bestway Agencies' Acquisition

Ampere Vehicles will own 74% stake in Bestway Agencies Ampere is one of the first EV brands in India to sell its electric two-wheelers through ecommerce portals Electric two and three-wheelers will account for over 80% of passenger vehicles sold by 2030, report Ampere Vehicles, a wholly-owned electric mobility subsidiary of Greaves Cotton, has acquired 74% stake in Noida-based electric three-wheeler company Bestway Agencies for INR 7 Cr.

Startup Mergers & Acquisitions: Slack acquires SaaS startup Rimeto

#startups #hrtech #employees #data #acquisitions #mergersandacquisitions #startupideas

Slack has acquired software as a service company Rimeto (acquired by Slack). Slack did not disclose the terms of the deal. Rimeto, which has raised $10 million in venture funding according to Crunchbase, builds a detailed #employee dictionary for companies. That allows #employers and fellow employees to see employees’ skills, experience and current projects.

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Slack acquires SaaS startup Rimeto

Slack has acquired software as a service company Rimeto, the company announced Wednesday. Slack did not disclose the terms of the deal. Rimeto, which has raised $10 million in venture funding, builds a detailed employee dictionary for companies. That allows employers and fellow employees to see employees' skills, experience and current projects.

Mergers & Acquisitions: Binance Acquires Crypto Debit Card Provider Swipe for Undisclosed Sum - CoinDesk

#cryptocurrency #digitalassets #acquisitions #mergersandacquisitions

Exchange giant Binance has acquired crypto wallet app Swipe that allows users to purchase items via a Visa debit card.

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Binance Acquires Crypto Debit Card Provider Swipe for Undisclosed Sum - CoinDesk

Exchange giant Binance has acquired crypto wallet app Swipe.io that allows users to purchase items via a Visa debit card. Swipe users can purchase cryptocurrencies from within the app and the debit cards automatically convert stored cryptocurrency into fiat currency, using the Visa payment network.

Mergers & Acquisitions: Paytm, Vijay Shekhar Sharma to acquire insurance firm Raheja QBE for $76M

#mergersandacquisitions #acquisitions #insurtech #India #startups

Paytm, India’s most valuable startup, and its co-founder and chief executive, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, announced on Monday they have reached an agreement to acquire insurance firm Raheja QBE General Insurance Company Limited for a sum of $76 million as the financial services startup looks to tap the nation’s booming insurance market.

Sharma is acquiring Raheja QBE through QorQl Pvt. Ltd, a firm in which he owns majority stake with Paytm owning the remainder. A Paytm spokesperson told TechCrunch that it was an all-cash deal.

Raheja QBE, which offers insurance services to cover an individual’s health, home and vehicles, and also provides protection on commercial properties and workplace injuries, is owned by Prism Johnson (51%) and QBE Australia (49%.) QorQl is acquiring a 100% stake in Raheja QBE as part of the agreement, the two entities said.

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Paytm, Vijay Shekhar Sharma to acquire insurance firm Raheja QBE for $76M

Paytm, India's most valuable startup, and its co-founder and chief executive, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, announced on Monday they have reached an agreement to acquire insurance firm Raheja QBE for a sum of $76 million as the financial services startup looks to tap the nation's booming insurance market. ...

Mergers & Acquisitions: Unacademy Acquires PrepLadder For $50 Mn

#edtech #startups #acquisitions #mergersandacquisitions

Unacademy, India's learning platform, announced the acquisition of PrepLadder, a postgraduate medical entrance exam preparation platform for $50 million. This acquisition will further strengthen Unacademy’s presence in medical entrance examination categories such as NEET PG and FMGE. As a part of its inorganic growth strategy, Unacademy had recently acquired Kreatryx and taken over the custodianship of CodeChef.

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Unacademy Acquires PrepLadder For $50 M

Unacademy, India's learning platform, today announced the acquisition of PrepLadder, a postgraduate medical entrance exam preparation platform for $50 million. This acquisition will further strengthen Unacademy's presence in medical entrance examination categories such as NEET PG and FMGE. As a part of its inorganic growth strategy, Unacademy had recently acquired Kreatryx and taken over the custodianship of CodeChef.

Startup Exits: FMCG firm Marico acquires Beardo; Venture Catalysts exits company

#acquisitions #startups #startupexits #mengrooming #ecommerce

Mumbai-based fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) company Marico Limited has acquired Ahmedabad headquartered Zed Lifestyle-run grooming products platform BEARDO . While the former had picked up a 45% stake in the company in 2017, the current deal marks a complete acquisition.

Although the financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed, early stage investor Venture Catalysts said it received a nearly eight-fold return on its original investment of $500,000 made in 2016 along with angel investors.

Men’s grooming market is currently valued at Rs 10,000 crore, a jump from Rs 3,200 crore in 2016. The Beardo buy will help Marico, which currently markets the Set Wet brand, boost its own product portfolio in the segment and expand beyond gels and deodorants.

Beardo, which was founded by Ashutosh Valani and Priyank Shah in 2015, sells men’s grooming products such as beard oils, beard waxes, soaps and other facial hair treatments. The company sells its products through online channels, which make up 75% of its revenues, and in physical stores and salons as well.

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FMCG firm Marico acquires Beardo; Venture Catalysts exits company

Mumbai-based fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) company Marico has acquired Ahmedabad headquartered Zed Lifestyle-run grooming products platform Beardo. While the former had picked up a 45% stake in the company in 2017, the current deal marks a complete acquisition.

Société Générale to acquire French neobank Shine - FinTech Futures

#fintech #acquisitions #mergersandacquisitions #banks #invoicemanagement #invoices

Société Générale is set to acquire Shine, a French challenger banking service for freelancers and small businesses. The size of the acquisition is currently unconfirmed. TechCrunch reports an all-cash deal of around €100 million ($112.6 million) but has since updated its report to say Société Générale has disputed this price.

Shine offers business-tailored accounts and debit cards. French customers can create invoices directly from the app and send payment links to clients. Invoices then get automatically marked as paid in the app. Receipts are attached to transactions, keeping accounting information in the app. Automatic receipt exports are also an option in the app. Users can also set up notification reminders to pay taxes and see how much money will be left over.

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Société Générale to acquire French neobank Shine - FinTech Futures

Société Générale is set to acquire 2018-founded Shine, a French challenger banking service for freelancers and small businesses.

Startup Strategy: The opportunity for startups in India & ASEAN to write a new M&A playbook

#manda #mergers #mergersandacquisitions #startups #startupindia #strategy #startupstrategy #buildtolast

Please read what Piyush Gupta, MD - Strategic Development at Sequoia Capital has to say on how M&A can make you big, provided executed properly.

M&A will become an increasingly important tool for startups that want to scale, enter adjacent businesses and enhance their financial profile. This will require a change in mindset among founders in India and ASEAN.

M&A has been drastically under-utilized as a growth tool by startups in this region. That’s partly because many founders on both sides of the fence feel a natural sense of anxiety about , loss of control and the impact on culture, customers and employees. It’s also because M&A, as a tool, has a bad reputation.

Startups Sequoia worked with on M&A have been able to achieve their objectives by structuring their deals with these principles in mind:

• Create an ownership mindset with stock-weighted acquisitions.
• Change your organizational structure to make a home for the acquired team
• Add on incentive for successful integration and performance
• Bring some cash to the acquisition if you can
• Simplify cap table liquidation preferences

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The opportunity for startups in India & ASEAN to write a new M&A playbook

By Piyush Gupta Even before COVID, public and private investors assessing late-stage startups were looking much more closely at their path to significant scale and sustained profitability. That focus is here to stay, and many companies will need to expand their toolkit.

Fintech Card Solutions: Mastercard set to acquire Finicity for $825m

#fintech #openbanking #lending #mastercard #visa #mergersandacquisitions

Mastercard has agreed to buy Finicity, a financial data aggregation start-up Plaid, for $825 million.

If performance targets are met, Finicity’s existing shareholders will earn up to $160 million on top of the sale price, taking the total value of the deal to $985 million.

This follows a similar move by rival Visa in January, which saw the card issuer giant buy data aggregator fintech Plaid for five times the price of Finicity at $5.3 billion.

Much like Plaid’s open banking services, Finicity allows financial services firms to gain financial insights around payments, account and asset verification, and transactions.

The card issuer giant also wants to focus on improving credit decisioning, and envisions that the integration of Finicity’s account owner verification tools will speed up automated clearing house (ACH) and real-time payments.

Earlier this month, it was revealed that Visa’s acquisition of Plaid is being investigated by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). This raises questions over Mastercard’s acquisition of Finicity, and whether it too will fall under regulatory scrutiny over potential impacts to competition.

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Mastercard set to acquire Finicity for $825m - FinTech Futures

Mastercard is buying Finicity, a financial data aggregation start-up, for $825m. Existing shareholders will earn up to $160m on top of the sale price.

Startup Mergers & Acquisitions: Edtech startup Unacademy acquires programming platform Codechef

Source: YourStory Media

Author: Debolina Biswas

Gaurav Munjal, Founder of #edtech #startup Unacademy, recently took to Twitter to announce the acquisition of online programming platform CodeChef.

CodeChef was started in 2009 by Bhavin Turakhia, Founder and CEO of Flock, Radix and Zeta India, as a part of Directi. It was developed as a platform to help programmers enhance their skills and create a community. Moving forward, CodeChef will be under the umbrella of Unacademy, instead of Directi.

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Edtech startup Unacadmey acquires programming platform Codechef

Gaurav Munjal, Founder of edtech startup Unacademy, recently took to Twitter to announce the acquisition of online programming platform Codechef. Codechef was started in 2009 by Bhavin Turakhia, Founder and CEO of Flock, Radix and Zeta, as a part of Directi. It was developed as a platform to help programmers enhance their skills and create a community.

Credit Sesame acquires Canadian challenger STACK for international expansion

Source: FinTech Futures

Credit and loans company, Credit Sesame, has announced its acquisition of Canadian challenger bank, STACK.

The two firms had been in partnership since the 2019 design of Sesame Cash, a no-fee digital banking service “to help consumers grow their cash and credit together” which launched in March.

The move is part of an attempted international expansion. Credit Sesame’s credit services will be integrated with STACK’s digital banking offering to bring cash and credit management to Canadian consumers.

The combined firm aims to roll out several new features and resources designed to help consumers manage and grow their cash and credit faster, which the company expects will “further accelerate customer demand.” These include a smart bill pay service, savings roundup of transactions to save or pay down debt, and additional rewards programs and credit-building features.

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Credit Sesame acquires Canadian challenger Stack for international expansion - FinTech Futures

Credit and loans company Credit Sesame has announced its acquisition of Canadian challenger bank Stack.