PayU Acquires Wibmo To Grow India Business

To help grow its business in India, Naspers-owned PayU has acquired U.S.-based Wibmo. The company is paying $70 million for the firm, which is based in Cupertino but primarily operates in India, according to reports.

PayU Global Chief Financial Officer Aakash Moondhra said, according to the report, “This is a strategic acquisition for PayU that combines our merchant network and Wibmo’s leadership in digital security.” He added that “PayU is very bullish on India as a market.”

Wibmo’s offerings span security, quick-response (QR) codes, authentication, mobile payments and prepaid cards. The company also works with merchants and banks, and has consumer-facing offerings as well. While Wibmo will run a wholly owned subsidiary and will maintain its branding, reports indicate that “the appeal to PayU appears to be an opportunity to own touchpoints across the payment process.”

Beyond Wibmo, PayU bought Citrus Pay in 2016 for $130 million. The firm has also invested in FinTech startups.

The news comes as PayU announced the acquisition of payments technology platform ZOOZ last July. In a press release at the time, PayU said the price tag was undisclosed, but noted the deal supported the company’s expansion into high-growth markets. PayU said that, with the deal, it had made investments and/or acquisitions totaling more than $350 million as of 2016, when it began to expand around the world.

PayU Chief Executive Laurent le Moal said in a press release at the time, “PayU is one of the most active investors in the FinTech space, and we are always looking for opportunities to innovate and support our merchant clients to grow. Today’s announcement is a great illustration of this philosophy in action, and we are pleased to be welcoming the ZOOZ team further into the PayU fold.”