EMEA Daily: DoorDash’s $8B International Expansion

In today’s top stories from Europe, the Middle East and Africa, DoorDash acquires Finnish food aggregator Wolt in a bid to expand internationally.

Also, Italian payments company Nexi buys the payments business of BPER Banca and its subsidiary Banco Di Sardegna, and MoneyGram forms a partnership with Saudi Arabian mobile wallet firm Mobily.

DoorDash Becomes Major International Competitor With Close of Wolt Acquisition

Restaurant aggregator DoorDash has expanded its international footprint with its acquisition of Helsinki-based aggregator Wolt, expanding the number of countries in which DoorDash operates by almost nearly fivefold.

“Together with Wolt, we believe we have the best team and platform to serve merchants, consumers, and couriers in our existing and future markets,” DoorDash co-founder and CEO Tony Xu said in a statement. “Our journey in building our international business is just beginning, and we’re confident in the incredible future we will build together.”

When the roughly $8 billion acquisition deal was announced last November, Xu noted the chance for DoorDash to increase the scale of its international business exponentially than if the company just added new markets one by one.

Nexi to Buy BPER Banca Payment Unit for $412M

Following months of talks, Italian payments group Nexi said it will pay as much as $412 million for the payments business of BPER Banca and its subsidiary Banco Di Sardegna.

The deal, set to be finalized in the second half of the year, gives Nexi control of the point-of-sales operations of both companies, and with it access to an 11,000-member retailer network.

As PYMNTS reported this winter, BPER’s business specializes in electronic payment management. The two companies began their talks in February, but the deal was pushed back a number of times.

MoneyGram Teams With Mobily Pay to Help Saudi Arabia Mobile Wallet Users

MoneyGram International has teamed up with Saudi Arabia-based mobile wallet Mobily Pay to bring MoneyGram’s international money transfer capabilities to Mobily Pay and allow customers to send money around the world in next to real-time.

This launch is the latest in a series of a fleet of integrations by MoneyGram for its white-label product, which lets FinTechs access its global money transfer network.

“The digitization of our global network is a core component of our growth strategy, and we continue to report exceptional results,” MoneyGram Chairman and CEO Alex Holmes said in the company press release.

Huuva Raises $5.22M for Virtual Restaurant Platform

Finnish delivery kitchen startup Huuva has wrapped a $5.2 million investment round and now plans to use the funding to expand across Central Europe, add 100 new employees, and increase its neighborhood-first focus.

The round was led by venture capital firm General Catalyst, with participation from Lifeline Ventures and several angel investors, including Laurel Bowden and Ilkka Paananen.

“Restaurant offerings outside city centers are close to non-existent,” said Ville Leppälä, co-founder and CEO of Huuva. “We’re on a mission to revolutionize the restaurant offering in underserved neighborhoods.