Private equity-backed Heidelpay, a German payment service provider in ecommerce, has purchased POS payment specialist StarTec as part of its ‘industry sector consolidation strategy’.
StarTec’s product portfolio includes state of the art POS-terminals for electronic cash, direct debit and credit card payments as well as electronic gift card and customer loyalty programmes. The acquisition will further expand Heidelpay’s portfolio with additional services and expertise in both online and offline payments according the company. The deal also enables the business to offer payment solutions for brick-and-mortar stores.
Heidelpay, which is backed AnaCap Financial Partners, has a customer base of over 16,000 merchants worldwide. Since founding in 2003, the BaFin-licenced and regulated payment institution for online payment processes offers all forms of payment processing including acquiring, processing and collecting.
Mirko Hüllemann, founder and CEO at Heidelpay, said: “This symbolises another milestone in our growth strategy. With this merger, Heidelpay can now offer one of the most powerful payment platforms and combine both online and brick-and-mortar commerce with an increasingly international focus. Going forward, the strong service-oriented identity of both firms will be streamlined collectively under the Heidelpay umbrella and together with AnaCap, we look forward to expanding Heidelpay’s market reach.’
By buying StarTec, Heidelpay is looking exploit the strong organic growth being witnessed in both e-commerce and cashless POS payment landscapes. The combined business has grown processed transaction volumes 30 per cent year to date as of September 2017. Heidelpay also meets the requirements of the new EU PSD2 directive that will come into play during early January 2018.
AnaCap Financial Partners is a specialist private equity firm focused on investing in the European financial services sector, and was established by Joe Giannamore in 2005. The firm has raised a number of funds thus far. The most recent fund close coming in 2016, when the AnaCap Credit Opportunities III fund closed at a total of $675m. In January this year the buyout house purchased a controlling stake in Heidelpay for an undisclosed fee.
German FinTech
Germany’s share of FinTech investment has increased by 16.3% between 2014 and 2016 according to data by FinTech Global. German FinTech success stories SolarisBank, Rasin and Simplesurance are among those who raised large funding rounds in Q1 2017. In particular, SolarisBank, who allow companies to offer their own financial products, raised $28.4m in March.
Copyright © 2017 FinTech Global
