Paysafe to acquire eCommerce Payment Platform SafetyPay

Paysafe, a specialised payments platform, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire SafetyPay for US$441 million in an all-cash transaction.

Founded in 2007, SafetyPay is a payments platform that enables eCommerce transactions at over 180,000 cash collection points through open banking and eCash offerings primarily in 11 Latin American countries and Europe, serving almost 300 merchants in travel, entertainment and digital goods. 

The acquisition will help Paysafe establish more of a foothold in the region following the deal to acquire Peruvian payment service PagoEfectivo.

“We are very excited to welcome SafetyPay into the Paysafe family. The team has successfully built a market-leading payment platform that has become the de facto open banking solution for Latin America. We look forward to partnering with Gustavo and the team to continue to build eCash and online banking solutions across LATAM and beyond.” commented Philip McHugh, CEO of Paysafe.

“Furthermore, by combining the capabilities and open banking network of both SafetyPay and PagoEfectivo with our existing solutions in processing, digital wallets and eCash, along with our deep expertise in specialised verticals such as iGaming, travel and digital goods, we can become the true market leader in the region and provide merchants with unique and powerful combinations to grow their business,” McHugh added. 

Expanding banking solutions 

On completion of the deal, the SafetyPay team will transition into Paysafe’s expanding eCash and online banking solutions’ team which is headed up by Paysafe eCash CEO, Udo Mueller. At that time, SafetyPay’s CEO, Gustavo Ruiz Moya, will become CEO, eCash for Latin America and Global Head of Open Banking, reporting into Mueller. The enlarged Paysafe eCash business will be able to offer eCash and open banking solutions in over 60 countries with over one million distribution points.

“We are really pleased to see SafetyPay and PagoEfectivo become part of Paysafe and expand our payment solutions across card payment processing, digital wallets, eCash and online banking payments with a strong foothold in high growth Latin American markets. We see exciting synergies in key industry verticals like iGaming where we want to win. From the start, we have had a plan to grow in areas where we can achieve scale through operational efficiency. It is great to see the team execute and create more opportunities for growth,” commented Bill Foley, Chairman of Paysafe’s Board of Directors.

The SafetyPay transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter, 2021.