Global Processing Services (GPS), the payments processor, has revealed the ongoing success of its customers and partners through their collective investment figures. Worldwide, GPS customers and partners have generated $12.53billion of investment this year through venture capital (VC), private equity (PE) and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity. This accounts for more than a tenth (13%) of the reported $98billion worth of investment the global fintech industry has generated in the first half of the year.
Investments in GPS’ customers and partners totalled $11.96billion in the UK alone, accounting for almost half (49%) of the UK fintech industry’s staggering $24.5billion investment reported for the same period.
Investment activity shows no sign of slowing down either, with July, in particular, seeing several large raises amongst GPS’ customer base. Business expenses and prepaid card specialist, Soldo, and Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) challenger, Zilch, both reported significant raises throughout the month of $180million and $110million respectively. When taking into account just VC and PE activity, GPS customers and partners have to date generated $2.34billion of investment in 2021, with 59% of that activity taking place in July alone.
High-profile raises from the UK’s homegrown challenger banks have driven the majority of investment activity, with Revolut raising $800million of funding and Starling Bank generating $376million. Both fintechs are underpinned by GPS’ payment processing services. Payments platform, Paysafe, also completed a $9billion dollar mega-merger with Foley Trasimene Acquisition Corp II this year. Meanwhile, Visa recently agreed to a $970million acquisition of Currencycloud, the cross-border payments specialist that GPS recently partnered with to offer a full-stack mobile FX platform, demonstrating renewed confidence in the travel sector as restrictions loosen.
Joanne Dewar, Chief Executive Officer at GPS, commented, “Following a turbulent 2020 for the world, these figures are a resoundingly positive sign of the resilience and huge opportunity in the global fintech industry, with notable investor appetite pointing to exciting, continued evolution for the sector. We’re immensely proud to support our customers’ and partners’ impressive growth, powering the next generation of payments with our award-winning technology and as the trusted partner they can rely on as they expand their offerings across multiple market segments. The future of fintech is most certainly global, and we are excited to help businesses of all sizes continue to deliver innovative payment experiences across the world.”
GPS’ impact can be seen not only in the UK fintech ecosystem, but across the global industry. In Europe, for example, mobile wallet provider Stocard has reportedly been acquired by BNPL platform, Klarna, for around $129million. Further afield in the Asia Pacific region, Hong Kong digital bank, WeLab Bank, secured $75 million of funding, and Japan-based Paidy achieved unicorn status after a $120 million raise.
The figures reflect GPS’ ongoing commitment to global fintech, powering start-ups to tier 1 banks, from proof-of-concept to fully scaled global offerings. A unicorn maker, the company has supported multiple customers to $1billion valuations including Revolut, Starling Bank, Paidy and more.
