London-based DNA Payments Group, the fast-growing “vertically integrated” payments firm, has entered a £100 million deal with Alchemy Partners (Alchemy).
With an operations based hub in Kent, DNA presently serves more than 45,000 merchants including established online and offline retailers to SMEs, offering them with 70,000+ terminals which make “over 20 million transactions worth over £600m a month.”
As mentioned in a release, DNA is one of just a few players in the United Kingdom and Europe with fully Cloud enabled omni-channel payment processing capabilities, and also “provides a variety of SaaS and PaaS solutions to major global acquirers and payment schemes.”
The investment by Alchemy “sees DNA well positioned to benefit from the strong market opportunity, with the UK beginning to see signs of a recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic,” the announcement noted.
Arif Babayev and Nurlan Zhagiparov, the founders of DNA, stated:
“Alchemy’s investment marks a historic day for DNA and is a huge endorsement of our company and our technology. We have been looking for the right partner with the right ethos, vision and experience and we are lucky to have found this partnership with Alchemy.”
The past year has been quite challenging for businesses, and at DNA they have been “fully dedicated to helping [their] customers manage through the pandemic,” the firm’s management noted while adding that during the last few months DNA has expanded its digital commerce solutions and payment methods, “providing merchants with Pay by Link, Checkout v3, ApplePay, Pay by Bank, PayPal, Open Banking and many other new capabilities.”
As noted in the update:
“This transaction will allow us to accelerate our growth, helping more merchants accept payments quickly and easily, both in-store and online. Our technology and vertical integration give us an unparalleled advantage in servicing our partners and customers, but also provide a great foundation for bolt-on acquisitions.”
This investment will allow us to further improve our product offering and continue with our business strategy of making key acquisitions to grow our presence “not only in the UK but also internationally,” the firm’s management added while pointing out that they have “more than doubled [their] estate size and turnover in the past 18 months.”
Toby Westcott, Partner at Alchemy Partners, remarked:
“We are delighted to be partnering with DNA. Alchemy is always looking for opportunities to partner with talented business founders and uncover attractive investments that others may not be able to access.”
Wescott also mentioned:
“We are focused on helping companies grow and develop, and having worked closely with both Arif and Nurlan during this extraordinary period caused by the Covid 19 pandemic, it was clear that DNA and Alchemy’s goals, missions and values were closely aligned. Merchants’ increasing need for omni-channel payments solutions combined with the strength of DNA’s product proposition creates a compelling investment opportunity and we are excited to join DNA on its journey to build a leading payments business in the UK and expand into Europe.”
DNA Payments was advised by Proskauer, Houlihan Lokey and EY and Alchemy was advised by Macfarlanes and PwC on this transaction.
Launched in 1997, Alchemy aims to target key opportunities across Europe to team up with and work with management teams, assisting them with creating value by addressing problems, helping “take difficult decisions and driving through change.”
Since introducing its services, Alchemy has finalized more than 190 transactions, investing £4 billion+ into firms and organizations based in 14 different countries.