PayU, the payments division of Naspers, today announced the acquisition of Israeli payments technology platform ZOOZ. Financial details about the acquisition were not disclosed but market sources believe it was for about $80-90 million.
ZOOZ CEO Oren Levy and CTO Ronen Morecki founded the company in 2010. ZOOZ has raised $40 million to date from investors including Target Global Ventures, Fang Fund, iAngels, Kreos Capital, Blumberg Capital, lool ventures, Rhodium, Claltech (Access Industries’ Israeli tech vehicle), XSeed Capital, CampOne Ventures and angel Eilon Tirosh.
PayU said that it will work together with ZOOZ to create the leading, global standard payments infrastructure of the future. As part of this vision they will build a comprehensive, modular, and highly flexible ‘Payment OS platform’ that can support evolving merchant and broader payment industry needs. The platform’s immediately expected features include fraud management and real time reporting or smart routing, to better aid global merchant growth.
As part of the deal, due to close summer 2018, Levy and Morecki will become part of PayU’s Global Leadership team, focusing on tech and business development. ZOOZ’s 70-strong team of experienced technical and payments experts will also become part of the PayU team, boosting the business’ technical capabilities.
PayU CEO Laurent le Moal said, “PayU is one of the most active investors in the fintech space and we are always looking for opportunities to innovate and support our merchant clients to grow. Today’s announcement is a great illustration of this philosophy in action and we are pleased to be welcoming the ZOOZ team further into the PayU fold. By working together to create the first ‘Payment OS’ platform we will advance PayU’s mission to help build a world without financial borders”.
Levy added, “After a year-long, productive partnership, our shared vision to create a new global standard in payments infrastructure is becoming a reality with PayU’s acquisition of ZOOZ. The unique contribution we bring to PayU is an advanced technological layer which not only helps merchants worldwide to upscale their operations and provide a better customer experience, but also offers analytics and optimization capabilities that equip them with unprecedented insights.”
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 23, 2018
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