Nium Plans $400M European Expansion
Digital payments startup Nium is in discussions to make a $400 million acquisition to help it expand across Europe, Co-Founder and CEO Prajit Nanu said.
“Europe is a very big business for us,” Nanu told CNBC.
Nanu said his company is in talks to buy an enterprise-focused payments operation that is worth “between $20 million to $400 million,” per the report. Nium has about 150 employees in Europe and plans to add 100 more over the next year.
The Singapore-based firm is poised to generate about $150 million in yearly global revenues, with more than half of sales coming from Europe, according to the report.
The European FinTech world is a competitive one, with multibillion-dollar startups trying to win market share from more traditional banks, the report stated. Among them are buy now, pay later (BNPL) firm Klarna (valued at $46 billion), payments firm Checkout.com ($40 billion) and Revolut ($33 billion).
Nanu argued there’s still a lot of room for companies like Nium, which is focused more on B2B payments and is valued at $2 billion, according to the report.
He told CNBC the company’s operations in Europe accelerated in the last year due partly to its purchase of Ixaris, a London-based firm that issues virtual payment cards for the travel industry.
Read more: Nium Invests in B2B Travel Payments With Ixaris Acquisition
“We had the audacity to buy a travel payment company before vaccines even became a thing,” he said, per the report.
Earlier this week, Nium announced plans to acquire alternative payments network platform Socash for an undisclosed amount.
See more: Nium Signs Deal to Buy Alternative Payments Platform Socash
Pratik Gandhi, Niim’s other co-founder and its chief operating officer, estimated that with Socash, users will save 30% in commissions compared to the current cost of in-app payments.