As 2022 comes to a close, it is as good a time as any to reflect on the past year of fintech. Specifically, looking at the big moves players in the space have made. Ranging from startups to big-players, moves have been made by all. Some have even looked to merge or acquire other companies. In this article, we reflect on the industry’s biggest mergers and acquisitions (M&A) from 2022.
January
Though January is often perceived as one of the slowest months, as everyone returns from their holidays, some companies were already looking to announce mergers and acquisitions in 2022. Most notably, this month saw Tandem Bank acquire consumer lender Oplo to create ‘the UK’s fairer, greener digital bank’.
The move saw Tandem Bank’s total asset value reach £1.2billion, including £230million of green lending, £1billion of funding and more than 171,000 customers.
Susie Aliker, Tandem’s CEO, was appointed to lead the combined business, supported by Oplo founder Alex Mollart, as deputy chief executive.
February
The travel payments industry saw a revival following the pandemic. As consumers returned to the air, they sought out new forms to make their payments.
As such, TripActions, the all-in-one travel, corporate card and expense management solution, acquired Comtravo, the travel management company. The agreement marked the second Europe-based acquisition for the TripActions Group, with the total investment across the UK and Europe exceeding $400million in less than a year.
March
Cryptocurrencies have had a down year in 2022. From the get-go, they had a downward projection. However, this didn’t stop moves in the industry from taking place. In March, one of the most notable M&As to take place was between Blockdaemon, a blockchain infrastructure company, and cryptocurrency API company Gem, with the former acquiring the latter.
The acquisition followed Blockdaemon’s Series C of $207million. As a result, Blockdaemon was able to immediately generate transaction-based revenue, which was a key strategic business model for the firm going forward.
April
As we alluded to before, moves were made by all – both big conglomerates and fresh start-ups. But when we said moves were made by all, we really meant by ALL. Every region saw deals being made, and in April one of the most notable was by PayRetailers.
In April, PayRetailers, a LatAm fintech payment specialist, announced the acquisition of two online payments platforms: Chile’s Paygol and Colombia’s Pago Digital. The two acquisitions strengthened PayRetailers’ breadth and depth to realise the potential of e-commerce payments across Latin America.
The company has continued to grow and expand throughout the year. The Fintech Times recently hosted a webinar titled LatAm Expansion: Overcoming Hurdles to Payments Growth. Here, PayRetailers explained how the company has grown and why LatAm has such a thriving fintech ecosystem.
May
In May, software-as-a-service (SaaS) payments infrastructure platform Paddle snapped up subscription metrics firm ProfitWell for $200million in cash and equity. Paddle integrated ProfitWell’s financial metrics, as well as its pricing and retention software. Following the deal, subscription businesses were able to plug into Paddle and have their taxes, payments, billing, reporting, retention, and pricing all done for them.
June
Hitting the halfway of 2022, one of the biggest M&As to take place was in the investment space. Dalberg, a social impact advisory group, acquired Ravel, a Singapore-based company which designs and runs corporate innovation programs.
It claimed the new offering would help investments in innovation be more socially impactful. Dalberg aimed to incorporate Ravel’s innovation capabilities and networks into its global advisory, sector, and regional expertise.
July
One of the hottest topics in fintech this past year was financial inclusion. An active innovator in the space, GoHenry, the prepaid debit card and financial education app for kids aged 6-18, acquired French fintech, Pixpay, in a deal that saw the financial education pioneer expand into Europe for the first time.
Despite the acquisition, GoHenry and Pixpay continued to operate under their own brands with no change in leadership, headquarters or headcount. As the year progressed, Visa was announced as GoHenry’s exclusive network provider following a partnership extension
August
Following the summer holiday slowdown, Verso Wealth Management announced its acquisition of Campbell Thomson Insurance Services Limited.
This acquisition brought its total assets under management to over £1billion. It became the fifth acquisition by the Verso platform and the first based in Scotland, as it looked to expand its UK outreach.
September
One of the largest organisations in fintech, J.P. Morgan made significant moves in 2022 too.
In September, it signed an agreement to acquire cloud-native payments technology company Renovite. The strategic acquisition helped J.P. Morgan Payments build its next-generation merchant acquiring platform, bolster the firm’s payments modernisation strategy and support its journey to the cloud. Renovite officially became part of J.P. Morgan Payments.
October
In October, Stubben Edge acquired credit brokering intermediary Finpoint to broaden its financial services offering. The deal, following approval by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), expanded the UK fintech and allowed it to provide help to brokers and IFAs. It aimed to help them build a comprehensive proposition across insurance, loans, and cash for SMEs.
November
Climate First Bancorp – the holding company for Climate First Bank – purchased a climate and social justice fintech platform developed by the startup Ecountabl. The platform indexes data on over 10,000 companies, analysing their environmental, social and governance performance.
As a result, customers could track how their purchases with brands aligned with their personal values.
December
And last but not least we reach December. Despite everyone turning in for the Christmas holiday time, businesses have continued to make movements in preparation for 2023.
Notably, Investcorp, the alternative investment firm, agreed to acquire Marble Point, a US-based CLO manager. Upon closing of the transaction, Marble Point combined with Investcorp Credit Management.
The combined platform will manage $2billion in assets and rank among the top 15 CLO managers globally by AUM.
