Banco Santander, Spanish bank, has acquired over 50 percent stake in the Ebury, a UK payment platform for over $453 million. Ebury payment platforms have been at the forefront, providing the payment system for small and medium-sized businesses solutions to trade internationally. The new acquisition is set to be closed by next year and set to assist Santander’s global payment business.
Ebury currently is providing its payment service in over 19 countries and is all set to expand in Latin America and Asia. The deal is all set to value Ebury at £700 million, and the bank is expecting a return on investment to be higher than 25 percent by 2024. Ebury’s existing investors’ team includes co-founders and management, and the amount gained from the acquisition is all set to be reinvested in the Ebury to make the payment system cater to all markets.
Ebury’s Co-Founder Juan Lobato and Salvador Garcia released a joint statement saying that combing a small and agile fintech with big banks will bring the best of both worlds. The world’s leading bank will complement high-quality service and knowledge.
Ebury was the first fintech to go live in 2018 with SWIFT’s global payment innovation, and it has enabled Ebury’s client to fast track international payments. It’s being assisted by the functionalities that include monitoring and tracking in real-time across the globe.
In the summer of 2019, the startup community saw hundreds of millions of dollars being invested in fintech. MoneyLion, the personalized banking app, raised $100 million, N26 raised another $170 million along with an earlier investment of $300 million, and Brex raised another $100 million. Payment platform Stripe, mortgage backers Blend, traveler lender Uplift, savings, and investment platform Raisin and saving depositors Acorns have raised sizeable amounts through new rounds of funding in the year. There has been a shift in strategy that is being followed by VCs, as they are mostly going in for more well-established fintech business based on their market potential rather than simply looking at initial revenue gains.
