ThinkStock PhotosBengaluru: Digital payments major PayU is in the final stages of discussions to acquire Bengaluru and Cupertino-based Wibmo, which specialises in processing online payments, according to three people in the know of the matter. If the deal, estimated at $50-60 million, goes through, it will be another wager by PayU, which has earmarked more than $1 billion to deploy into India, as it bulks up its portfolio here inorganically.
The Naspers-owned PayU intends to own the entire payment process through this acquisition, sources close to the matter said. Wibmo specialises in multiple payment service offerings including 3D secure for ensuring safety of digital transactions to mobile payments and merchant payments.
“Naspers has a huge appetite for investments in the fintech space and this acquisition will complete the entire suite of payments offerings for PayU which otherwise is in the business of providing payment acceptance solutions for online merchants,” said one of the persons quoted above. “The deal is valued at around $60 million," the person added. ET reported in its February 19 edition that PayU has been in advanced discussions to pick up a 25-30% stake in Capital Float for upto $150 million.
In an emailed response to ET’s query, a PayU India spokesperson said: “It is the company’s policy to neither acknowledge nor deny its involvement in any merger, acquisition or divestiture activity nor to comment on market rumours.” Govind Setlur, CEO of Wibmo, did not reply to the query.
Wibmo’s Setlur is based out of California. As per his LinkedIn page, he pursued his masters at the Indian Institute of Science back in 1979-81and had started the company in 2002. Before that he worked across multiple organisations like KPMG, Silicon Valley Bank, among others.
As per industry sources, Wibmo is one of the largest players in the 3D secure process of digital payments, which is the page where customers are asked to punch in their passwords or one-time passwords (OTPs) to authenticate digital transactions. ET understands that Wibmo works with most of the large Indian banks. As per their website, the company is certified by Mastercard, Visa, RuPay as well as PCI DSS which means they can process all forms of digital payments from cards to mobile based transactions.
South African internet and media conglomerate, Naspers operates its fintech business through the Netherlands headquartered PayU. In India they operate an Indian subsidiary-- PayU India which has emerged as one of the largest players in the online payments space after acquiring Citrus Payments in 2016.
The Naspers-owned PayU intends to own the entire payment process through this acquisition, sources close to the matter said. Wibmo specialises in multiple payment service offerings including 3D secure for ensuring safety of digital transactions to mobile payments and merchant payments.
“Naspers has a huge appetite for investments in the fintech space and this acquisition will complete the entire suite of payments offerings for PayU which otherwise is in the business of providing payment acceptance solutions for online merchants,” said one of the persons quoted above. “The deal is valued at around $60 million," the person added. ET reported in its February 19 edition that PayU has been in advanced discussions to pick up a 25-30% stake in Capital Float for upto $150 million.
In an emailed response to ET’s query, a PayU India spokesperson said: “It is the company’s policy to neither acknowledge nor deny its involvement in any merger, acquisition or divestiture activity nor to comment on market rumours.” Govind Setlur, CEO of Wibmo, did not reply to the query.
Wibmo’s Setlur is based out of California. As per his LinkedIn page, he pursued his masters at the Indian Institute of Science back in 1979-81and had started the company in 2002. Before that he worked across multiple organisations like KPMG, Silicon Valley Bank, among others.
As per industry sources, Wibmo is one of the largest players in the 3D secure process of digital payments, which is the page where customers are asked to punch in their passwords or one-time passwords (OTPs) to authenticate digital transactions. ET understands that Wibmo works with most of the large Indian banks. As per their website, the company is certified by Mastercard, Visa, RuPay as well as PCI DSS which means they can process all forms of digital payments from cards to mobile based transactions.
South African internet and media conglomerate, Naspers operates its fintech business through the Netherlands headquartered PayU. In India they operate an Indian subsidiary-- PayU India which has emerged as one of the largest players in the online payments space after acquiring Citrus Payments in 2016.
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