PayU ACQUIRED BILLDESK FOR $4.7 BILLION

PayU ACQUIRED BILLDESK FOR $4.7 BILLION

Context:

PayU, the fintech services provider has acquired the Indian digital payments provider, BillDesk for $4.7 billion. This is one of the largest deals in the Indian fintech sector.

Highlights:

• On August 31, 2021, Prosus NV, the global consumer internet group and one of the largest technology investors worldwide made this announcement.
• PayU unit agreed to buy BillDesk to create a company that will handle a total transaction volume (TPV) of $147 billion in India.
• The acquisition will give PayU access to BillDesk’s large customer base of small merchants in India.
• The proposed acquisition will see PayU that operates in more than 20 high-growth markets.
• It also became one of the leading online payment providers by total payment volume, globally.
• On completing the transaction, Prosus’s cumulative investment in India will almost double to more than $10 billion.
• The deal is the 2nd-largest inbound acquisition in the tech space after Walmart Inc.’s acquisition of Flipkart for $16 billion in 2018.
• Prosus has been strengthening its position in India’s payments industry through PayU India.
• BillDesk marks PayU’s 4th acquisition in the last 5 years after it snapped up payments technology company CitrusPay in 2016 for $160 million.

PayU:

• It is a fintech company that provides payment technology to online merchants.
• The company was founded in 2002.
• It is headquartered in Hoofddorp, Netherlands.

BillDesk:

• It is an Indian online payment gateway company based in Mumbai, India.
• As of 2015, the company is worth USD 1 billion.