Rapyd To Acquire Valitor For $100M To Expand Omnichannel Payments

FinTech-as-a-Service startup Rapyd announced Thursday (July 1) it will spend $100 million to acquire Icelandic payments solution firm Valitor from Arion Bank.

“Valitor is a well-established payments brand and considered one of Europe’s payments leaders, providing both in-store and online payments acceptance solutions as well as card issuing to SMB merchants in Iceland, the U.K. and Ireland, and across Europe,” Rapyd said in a news release emailed to PYMNTS. “The acquisition of Valitor will complement Rapyd’s existing payment capabilities throughout Europe, as well as enhance its issuing portfolio.”

More specifically, Rapyd says the acquisition will “empower customers from any industry to streamline integration of omni-channel payments, expand into new markets, flatten FX fees, unlocking revenue and growth potential that would otherwise be inaccessible to them.”

Rapyd noted Iceland has distinguished itself as a cashless society and hub for innovation with a developed payments ecosystem that can serve as the company’s European hub while reaching out to the rest of the continent.

Rapyd’s cloud-based technology allows for integration of payments and FinTech services into any web or mobile application, offering local payment methods while managing compliance and regulatory requirements. With Rapyd’s capabilities, businesses and merchants using Vailtor can offer new services and enter new markets.

The company says it is pursuing acquisition opportunities following its recent funding round. As PYMNTS reported in January, Rapyd secured $300 million in Series D funding.

“The demand for online payments has skyrocketed following the restrictions due to the effects of COVID, and as a company, we are well placed to provide businesses across the globe with the solutions they need and to get them up and running fast,” Rapyd Co-Founder and CEO Arik Shtilman said at the time.

Rapyd’s expansion is coming at a time when payment methods have become vital to small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs).

“Our CEO always says, ‘You can’t conduct eCommerce unless you can accept the payment,’” BigCommerce Director of Strategic Business Development Chad Jaben told PYMNTS in an interview earlier this year.

“Anyone can have a website with attractive products, but the differentiator is: Can you accept the payment, [and] can you ship the product to them? The payment is the bottom line.”