In another sign of the global growth of buy now, pay later services, Zip Co Ltd. will purchase the European BNPL provider Twisto and the UAE-based Spotii Holdings Ltd. These latest acquisitions follow Zip’s purchase of Quadpay in September 2020.
Zip already owned a portion of Twisto, and plans to buy the remaining shares for approximately $108.5 million, with the deal expected to close in Q4 2021. Acquisition of the remaining shares of Spotii, for a price of approximately $16 million, is expected to be completed in Q3 2021.
The Twisto acquisition gives Zip greater access to the European Union’s $1.1 trillion ecommerce market, the world’s second-largest. Twisto holds a European Payment Institution license, enabling the provision of payment serves across all EU member states, subject to regulatory consents. More than one million customers and 14,000 merchants have transacted on the platform.
“We are very much looking forward to adding this strategic geography to our growing footprint and fulfilling global merchant demand,” said Larry Diamond, Co-founder and CEO of Zip in a statement. “We have been impressed by the Twisto team, their deep customer focus and product set, and look forward to working closely with them to deliver on the opportunities we jointly have in front of us.”
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Spotii, founded in 2020, already has integrated 650 merchants into its platform, including flagship regional brands such as Jashanmal and Danube Home. The Middle East is a fast-growing region for ecommerce, with online spending increasing at 25% annually, according to Bain and Co. data.
“We have been working with Spotii since our initial investment in December 2020 to broaden our understanding of the BNPL opportunity in the region,” said Diamond in a statement. “We believe there is a large untapped opportunity to bring BNPL to emerging markets where cash on delivery remains a significant merchant challenge and where the digitization of retail accelerates.”
