Posted In:

Payments, M&A


#410
Stick A Pin In It

Published:

Oct 23, 2021


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Posted In:

Payments, M&A

Published:

Oct 23, 2021


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As the competition for payments intensifies - PayPal is moving back upstream.

Reminiscent of their early days with EBay, PayPal is rumored to be in discussions to acquire Pinterest for $45b. The combination would position the payments business to engage with users early in the purchase decision, and in a fully integrated fashion (no pun intended).

PayPal has not been shy to share its ambition to become a “destination app” (f.k.a. super app). With 400m consumers and 32m merchants, they are well positioned to capitalize on their lead position. One way to become a destination app is to have content. Another way is to add shopping, spending, saving, and broader commerce capabilities.

The theme is transcending into other fintech sub verticals, as BNPL players have taken a similar approach with AfterPay - the second most used shopping discovery website in Australia - and Klarna, which entails following a similar playbook in Europe. Affirm stated in their Q3 readout that they too want to become a super app.

While the initial reaction from the market was far from positive, seeking to become a dominant consumer payments player certainly represents an ambitious move. But risk often entails controversy, at least initially. We'll have to stick a pin in it and see if this deal goes through…

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Stick A Pin In It


PayPal is in talks to buy Pinterest - Best known for its checkout button enabling consumers to easily pay for purchases on retailers’ websites, PayPal recently set a strategy of being a go-to service for not just payments and financial services, but also e-commerce more broadly. Buying Pinterest could bring users to PayPal earlier in their shopping experience and help them discover new items to buy, leading to more payments volume. Read more

Industry News


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Select Financings


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XanPool - Hong Kong based decentralized payment network raised $27m in Series A funding led by Valar Ventures. Read more

Zopa - UK based digital bank and P2P lending platform raised £220m in growth funding led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2. Read more


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