CAPE TOWN – Financial services provider in global growth markets PayU this week acquired payments technology platform ZOOZ, in a deal that supports PayU’s ongoing expansion into high-growth markets and targets $994 billion (more than R13 trillion) opportunity in cross-border payments.
Although this acquisition is for an undisclosed amount, PayU’s total sum of investments and acquisitions in global fintech is now more than $350 million since it began a series of strategic moves across the globe in 2016 to open access to financial services.
Laurent le Moal, chief executive of PayU, said: “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. We are pleased to be welcoming the ZOOZ team further into the PayU fold. By working together to create the first ‘payment OS’ platform we will advance PayU’s mission to help build a world without financial borders”.
The ZOOZ and PayU teams will work together to create the leading, global standard payments infrastructure of the future. As part of this vision, they will build a comprehensive, modular, and highly flexible “payment OS platform” that can support evolving merchant and broader payment industry needs.
The platform’s immediately expected features include fraud management and real-time reporting or smart routing, to better aid global merchant growth.
As part of the deal, ZOOZ’s co-founder and chief executive Oren Levy and chief technology officer Ronen are set to become part of PayU’s global leadership team, focusing on tech and business development.
Levy said: “After a year-long, productive partnership, our shared vision to create a new global standard in payments infrastructure is becoming a reality with PayU’s acquisition of ZOOZ.
The unique contribution we bring to PayU is an advanced technological layer which not only helps merchants worldwide to upscale their operations and provide a better customer experience but also offers analytics and optimisation capabilities that equip them with unprecedented insights”.
ZOOZ’s 70-strong team of experienced technical and payments experts will also become part of the PayU team, boosting the business’ technical capabilities.
With the cross-border market expected to reach $994bn in 2020, nearly two-thirds of cross-border business will come from high growth markets like Asia and Latin America, according to a report by Accenture.
Alternative payment methods still represent as much as two-thirds of all payments in these markets.