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Paysafe Group continues to diversify its business portfolio through M&A, having secured a definitive agreement to acquire German fintech firm viafintech.
The acquisition will see the viafintech team, including viafintech’s managing directors Sebastian Seifert, Achim Bönsch and Andreas Veller, integrated as part of Paysafe’s expanding eCash and open banking solutions’ team, headed up by Paysafe eCash CEO Udo Müller.
Commenting on the deal, Müller stated: “We are very excited to welcome a star player like viafintech into the Paysafe family. We believe the team are perfectly positioned to take advantage of the shift away from the legacy banking system in Germany and beyond as more and more challenger banks enter the market and consumers opt to use mobile-based solutions for banking and payments.
“By combining viafintech’s leading solutions with our existing eCash and APM portfolio, we are well positioned as an essential payments partner to challenger banks around the world as consumer banking habits continue to evolve.”
viafintech was formed in 2011 and integrates with digital banking apps to offer an innovative ‘mobile ATM’ concept, enabling consumers to make deposits or withdraw cash from their digital bank accounts at a nearby retail store using a barcode; something that is becoming increasingly popular in the region as bricks and mortar bank branches close and fast-growing challenger banks and digital wallets disrupt the market.
The fintech’s solutions are also used widely for bill payments and credit payouts, as well as for online shopping in general, supporting millions of consumers in the region who don’t have bank accounts, or who simply prefer the heightened security of using eCash to pay online.
Sebastian Seifert, Co-founder and Managing Director of viafintech, added: “We are delighted to become part of the Paysafe Group and believe this move will enable us to build on our business achievements to date and accelerate our future growth as Europe’s number one, non-banking, cash-in / cash-out infrastructure, further fuelling the shift away from legacy banking and driving more financial inclusion in general.”
