Domination of online payment market seems to be high on digital payment services PayU as it looks to close in on its latest acquisition bid. According to reports, Naspers backed Payu is nearing the acquisition of Bengaluru and Cupertino-based payment company Wibmo. Payu’s latest acquisition bid, following the successful acquisition of Citrus Payments in 2016, is estimated to cost the company nearly $50-60 Mn.
The acquisition of Wimbo, which specializes in security and risk-based authentication, will help make Payu a 360 degree payment company. This will obviously aid company’s goal to dominate the payment sector. Currently, the Gurgaon based company offers payment acceptance solutions for online merchants.
Reports claim that the Payu has shored up its reserves by more than $1 bn to ramp up its acquisition process. The company has been equally forthcoming in picking up minority stakes in promising payment startups like Zest Money, PaySense and Remitly. Last month, reports were also abuzz that the company was in advanced stage to pick up stake in fintech major Capital Float.
Meanwhile, Payu and Wimbo have so far declined to comment on this matter.
Wimbo’s acquisition will also prove advantageous for the former as it is one of the largest players in the 3D secure process of digital payments. This is the payment process that usually triggers one-time passwords (OTPs) to authenticate the digital payment.
Payu has become one of the frontal players in the digital payment space especially after it acquired Citrus Payments.
India’s digital payment scene has been going through a renaissance phase over the last few years. The industry has certainly benefitted from the proliferation of internet as it has aided in the growth of digital payment.
According to Credit Suisse’s latest report, India’s digital payments industry is likely to become a $1 Tn market by 2023.