The Fintech sector has been growing rapidly across the globe, especially following the COVID-19 outbreak which has accelerated the shift towards digital financial services.
Although the Coronavirus crisis has negatively impacted certain business sectors in Europe like travel and the hospitality industry, the European Fintech market has expanded this year (along with the Fintech industry in other parts of the world). In the Netherlands, Fintechs have been thriving due to many different reasons. Dealroom data shows 13 Netherlands-headquartered Fintechs were acquired this year.
As first reported by Silicon Canals, Amsterdam’s Sustainalytics, which was founded by Michael Jantzi in 1992, was acquired (at a valuation of €55M) in April 2020 by Morningstar, an investment research provider. Sustainalytics provides social, environmental, and governance ratings and research. Morningstar had maintained a 40% stake in the firm and will finalize the remaining 60% (for a full acquisition). Additional cash payments will be made in the next two years to close the deal.
Amsterdam-based Blockchain Consulting, which was founded by Michael Gord in 2016, has also been acquired by blockchain or DLT infrastructure provider Genesis Group (in March 2020).
Utrecht-based Tellow, which was established in 2015, was acquired by Rabo Frontier Ventures, an investment fund of Rabobank. The fund invested in Ageras, an online accounting and bookkeeping marketplace (in June 2020). The acquisition might explore the development of accounting and financial services for small businesses.
Amsterdam’s Blockdata, which was founded by Jonathan Knegtel, Lucas Schweiger, and Niels Lucker in 2018, has been acquired by CB Insights (in September 2020). CB Insights confirmed that they’ll be setting up an office in Amsterdam and Blockdata will operate as a standalone or independent entity but will be considered a part of the CB Insights team.
TerraPay, which was founded by Ambar Sur, Ram Sundaram, Aniruddha Sane, and Akbar Hussain in 2014, was acquired this year by Prime Ventures and Partech Africa in March 2020. The amount paid for the acquisition was not shared publicly. TerraPay allows people to send and receive funds to and from developing countries in a more affordable and convenient manner.
Rotterdam-based Yuki, which was founded by Arco van Nieuwland, Lucas Brentjens, and Sebastian Toet in 2007, has been acquired by Visma, a Norway based cloud software firm. Visma has made several other acquisitions in the accounting software sector and it intends to establish a strong presence in this market.
Bunnik-based Eyefreight, which was founded in 2009 by Yung Fu, was acquired by digital supply network Elemica. Eyefreight is a provider of multi-modal SaaS transportation management solutions.
Huizen-based S4Dunning, which was founded in 2013, has been acquired by Collenda, a provider of credit and collections management software (in September 2020).
Amsterdam’s Blockport, a social crypto-focused investment platform, was acquired in January 2020 by BUX. Blockport rebranded to BUX Crypto and was integrated under the BUX company brand.
Exact, a Dutch business software firm, has acquired Unit4 Bedrijfssoftware, which is Unit4’s branch that’s focused on the Belgian and Dutch accountancy, corporate and SME markets.
Nuvei Corporation, a payment technology partner, has acquired Laren-based Smart2Pay (in November 2020). Ohpen, a Dutch Cloud banking Fintech firm was acquired by Davinci, a SaaS provider, in September 2020.
Earlier this year, AcceptEasy, a provider of an omnichannel electronic bill presentment and payment (EBPP) and request-to-pay (RTP) processing solutions, was acquired by Serrala Group, a payment software provider.