10 biggest FinTech Mergers & Acquisitions of 2023

By Gloria Methri

The FinTech sector has witnessed a slowdown in deal activity, with companies around the world adopting a cautious approach when it comes to mergers and acquisitions (M&A). In the first half of 2023, only 128 M&A deals were recorded, compared to 248 and 188 in the first and second halves of 2022.

Despite the contraction, firms remain interested in exploring options and are looking forward to potential deals when market conditions improve. According to the S&P Global Market Intelligence, several FinTech segments are attracting merger and acquisition (M&A) interest, including payments, treasury management software and corporate carve-outs.

To get a sense of this year’s FinTech M&A landscape, here’s a list of the ten largest merger and acquisition deals in the sector in 2023.

• FIS sells Worldpay to GTCR at $18.5b

FIS, a global financial services technology, signed an agreement to sell a majority stake in its Worldpay Merchant Solutions business to private equity funds managed by GTCR in a transaction valuing $18.5 billion.

The agreement will enable greater management focus and operational simplification for FIS and Worldpay. In addition, the upfront cash proceeds will create immediate capital allocation flexibility. As part of the agreement, GTCR has committed an additional equity capital investment in Worldpay of up to $1.25 billion to pursue inorganic growth opportunities.

• Nasdaq acquires Adenza for $10.5b

Last month, Nasdaq completed its acquisition of Thoma Bravo-owned software firm Adenza for $10.5 billion, in the exchange operator’s biggest acquisition to date. As part of the deal, Thoma Bravo received a 14.9% stake in Nasdaq. This deal aims to help it expand its FinTech footprint and diversify itself beyond serving as an exchange operator.

Adenza was founded in 2021 following the merger of Calypso Technologies with AxiomSL by Thoma Bravo. Nasdaq expects to realize $80 million of annual run-rate net expense synergies by the end of the second year following the acquisition and $100 million in revenue synergies over the long term.

• Deutsche Börse acquires SimCorp in €3.9b deal

In October, German stock exchange operator Deutsche Börse successfully took over Danish investment management software SimCorp in a deal valuing the company at €3.9 billion. SimCorp offers a front-to-back investment management platform and ecosystem used by the world’s top asset owners and managers.

The combination of SimCorp’s business offering with Deutsche Börse’s data and analytics businesses will create a full-scope front-to-back investment management solutions platform. This will allow the German firm to take better advantage of secular industry trends and diversify its business mix with a growing share of recurring revenues.

• Duck Creek Technologies acquires Vista for $2.6b

The largest FinTech M&A deal that took place in the first quarter of 2023 was between Duck Creek Technologies and Vista. In January, InsurTech Duck Creek Technologies entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by global investment firm Vista Equity Partners in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $2.6 billion.

The purchase price of $19 per share for Duck Creek Technologies represented a 46% premium to its closing stock price on January 06, 2023. The acquisition by Vista Equity Partners was aimed at strengthening the company’s market position.

• Francisco Partners snaps up Sumo Logic for $1.7b

Global investment firm Francisco Partners has acquired SaaS analytics platform Sumo Logic in a deal that valued the business at $1.7 billion. Following the close of the deal in May, Sumo Logic became a private company. Founded in 2020, Sumo Logic is a SaaS analytics platform that enables clients to implement reliable and secure cloud applications.

• Paya acquired by Nuvei at $1.3b

Canadian FinTech Nuvei completed its $1.3 billion acquisition of payment platform Paya Holdings in February. Paya is a U.S. provider of integrated payment and frictionless commerce solutions that processed $50 billion in annual payment volume last year, mainly in high-growth verticals such as healthcare, non-profit, government, utilities, and other business-to-business (“B2B”) end markets. N

Paya amplifies Nuvei’s existing growth strategy and expands its reach into new underpenetrated and non-cyclical verticals where Nuvei’s proprietary technology aims to accelerate customer growth.

• Visa snaps up Pismo for $1b

In June this year, Visa agreed to acquire Pismo, a cloud-native issuer processing and core banking platform with operations in Latin America, Asia Pacific and Europe, for $1 billion in cash.

By acquiring Pismo, Visa said it will be positioned to provide core banking and issuer processing capabilities across debit, prepaid, credit and commercial cards for clients via cloud-native APIs. Pismo’s platform will also enable Visa to provide support and connectivity for emerging payment rails, like Pix in Brazil, for financial institution clients.

• Rapyd acquires part of PayU for $610m

Rapyd, the global Fintech-as-a-Service provider has acquires PayU Global Payment Organisation (GPO) for a total cash consideration of $610 million. PayU GPO is the payments and FinTech business of Netherlands-based Prosus, a global consumer internet group and one of the largest technology investors in the world.

Rapyd is a digital payment processing and infrastructure company that delivers end-to-end products covering the entire payment spectrum. The acquisition was aimed to help Rapyd significantly scale and  Central and Eastern Europe and Latin America.

• Papara acquires Rebellion

Leading Turkish neobank Papara announced its acquisition of Spanish challenger bank Rebellion. This major acquisition, the first of its kind for Papara, propelled the company’s valuation to over $1 billion, elevating it into the coveted ranks of FinTech unicorns in Europe.

The strategic purchase of Rebellion was part of Papara’s ambitious global expansion strategy. The neobank said that this deal provides the company an instant presence outside its home market for the first time. The transaction, a multi-million dollar deal involving both cash and stock, was brokered with Rebellion’s current owners, Beka Finance.

• SimCorp merges with Axioma

Last month, SimCorp announced that it will merge with Axioma, a global provider of factor risk models, portfolio construction tools, and multi-asset class enterprise risk solutions.

Before the merger with SimCorp, Axioma was part of Qontigo, a subsidiary of the Deutsche Börse Group since 2019 and a strategic partner of SimCorp since 2021. SimCorp’s serves as the tech backbone for over 300 of the world’s largest financial institutions, while Axioma’s solutions are used by more than 380 investment managers globally, with a core client base in North America.

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