Hyderabad-based Paynear Solutions acquires Singapore firm to go global

Deal gives acquirer instant access to markets across 16 countries due to GoSwiff's existing relationship with banks in Asia, Europe and Africa

Hyderabad-based payment transaction processing company Paynear Solutions today announced the acquisition of Singapore-based financial technology firm GoSwiff International Private Limited for an undisclosed sum, using mostly debt and cash.

The acquisition gives Payneat instant access to markets and clients across 16 countries on the back of GoSwiff's existing relationship with banks in Asia, Europe and Africa.

The five-year-old omni-channel payment solutions firm has so far deployed 80,000 point-of-sale (PoS) machines in the country besides offering bill invoicing, GST return filing among other associated services to those retail clients. The company expects to achieve Rs 110 crore revenues in the current year as compared to Rs 35 crore last year.

Retail businesses in India are currently using 2.5-3 million PoS devices. Paynear aims to reach to a level of 5 per cent market share by 2020 in this space.

"Paynear is at a point of inflection with our international ambitions taking shape. With our core competency in building secure, simple and scalable payment solutions we have established ourselves as a formidable player in Indian payment ecosystem and our goal is to replicate our success in global market. GoSwiff provides an exciting opportunity to develop businesses in these markets instantly with its strong connect with all major banks in Southeast Asia, CIS, Middle East and Eastern Europe. Other than this, the devices deployed are pre-certified, which also gives us an instant go-to-market advantage," Paynear Group CEO and managing director Prabhu Ram said.

While refusing to reveal the deal value, Prabhu Ram, however, said the acquisition was being funded through 60 per cent debt and remaining portion mostly from cash-in-hand along with a small fraction of equity. Currently Prabhu and his partners hold close to 70 per cent equity in the company. It had raised $6 million in equity so far.

GoSwiff CEO Mark Patrick said,"The acquisition of GoSwiff by Paynear provides our portfolio of leading financial institutions around the globe with enhanced products and services to support their rapidly developing digital payment strategies. India has become a leader in digital payments and Paynear's innovation and experience in India will be of great value to our clients as they look to replicate the growth of digital payments in their respective markets."