GoCardless is creating a full-service bank payments provider through the acquisition of open banking business Nuapay from Australia's EML Payments in a deal worth €32.75 million.
EML is selling Irish firm Sentenial - which operates under the Nuapay brand - three years after buying the business for an upfront enterprise value of €70 million.
UK payments unicorn GoCardless says Nuapay will scale its indirect channel proposition, consolidating its position as a key provider to existing and new customer segments including Independent Software Vendors and Payment Service Providers.
GoCardless will also incorporate Nuapay’s offering into its bank payment platform, fast-tracking the rollout of new disbursement capabilities to its customers in a move designed to unlock vertical sectors and use cases in areas including payroll, financial services, utilities, insurance, gaming and gambling.
Hiroki Takeuchi, CEO, GoCardless, says: “Nuapay is an established account-to-account payment provider and open banking specialist with a blue chip customer base. Its business is perfectly aligned to our growth strategy, and will accelerate our vision to become the world’s bank payment network.”
EML acquired Sentenial in the hope of cracking the UK and European markets but now says the Nuapay business is "non-core" to its operations as well as unprofitable, with a projected A$2 million Ebitda loss for full year 2024.