Naspers-backed PayU buys digital payments firm Wibmo for $70 mn

Naspers-owned PayU on Friday said it has acquired California-headquartered Wibmo Inc, which also operates in the digital payments segment, for $70 million (Rs 483 crore at the current exchange rate) to expand its reach in India.

PayU will acquire Wibmo’s payment offerings, including payment gateway solutions and security solutions as part of the deal, according to a statement.

The two companies, which both have a sizeable presence in India, will continue to run as separate businesses, it added. 

“Our endeavour is to positively impact and add value to the entire ecosystem including banks, consumers and merchants, with the combined service offerings of PayU and Wibmo,” said Aakash Moondhra, chief financial officer of PayU Global.

Wibmo’s founder and chief executive officer Govind Setlur will join PayU’s leadership team and report to the company’s newly-appointed India CEO Anirban Mukherjee.

Founded in 1999 by Setlur, Wibmo provides solutions ranging from mobile payments, fraud and risk management, prepaid solutions and a host of merchant services. 

According to its website, the company is certified by Mastercard, Visa, RuPay as well as Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI -DSS) for processing mobile payments.

Accel Partners, Intel Capital, Footprint Ventures and Western Technology Investment are some of Wibmo's investors. In March last year, it bought Delhi-based payments technology startup Mypoolin in a cash-and-stock deal.

Avendus was the financial advisor to Wibmo for the transaction. 

PayU said the buyout of Wibmo had taken its total investment in the fintech segment past $500 million.

PayU provides financial solutions for local and cross-border merchants in emerging markets, point-of-sale credit and alternative payment methods.

Naspers-backed PayU had in September 2016 acquired Mumbai-based rival Citrus Pay for $130 million.

India is PayU’s largest global market, accounting for more than half of the payment transactions among the 16 countries in which it has a presence. 

PayU Payments Pvt. Ltd had almost doubled its India revenue to Rs 588 crore for the financial year ended March 2018. 

Primarily focussed on being a merchant payment gateway, PayU is now intent on growing its consumer business through its investment in multiple digital lending platforms including Zestmoney and Paysense.

The company also received a non-banking financial company licence last September to propel its consumer lending business.