PayPal Holdings Inc. has officially agreed to buy the startup iZettle, a Swedish financial technology company, for a reported $2.2 billion. This will will be the largest acquisition in the history of the U.S.-based payment service, and it will allow PayPal to expand its company into the retail payment terminals business in international markets.Â
PayPal Holdings Inc. has officially agreed to buy the startup iZettle, a Swedish financial technology company, for a reported $2.2 billion. This will will be the largest acquisition in the history of the U.S.-based payment service, and it will allow PayPal to expand its company into the retail payment terminals business in international markets.
PayPal will be able to compete with Silicon Valley firm Square Inc. after acquiring iZettle, which offers small businesses a miniature credit card reader that allows business owners to use smartphones or tablets as payment registers. The Swedish company has already made its mark in 12 countries in Europe and Latin America and has other services that it provides its users.
This isn’t PayPal’s only acquisition in recent years, as they’ve made partnerships with large banks and other technology firms including Bank of America, Apple, Facebook, and also JP Morgan Chase. With its recent success in the last decade, PayPal has become the leader in digital payments, especially in terms of mobile payments via smartphones. Its interface includes programs like Venmo, which allow consumers and merchants to safely transfer funds from one account to another. With over 225 million active accounts and 2.2 billion transactions per quarter in over 200 countries, PayPal is now the leading online payment service in the entire world.
iZettle should help PayPal’s expansion plans, and give it the extra push it needs to reach other markets. They’ve excelled in terms of reaching major businesses, but PayPal’s new endeavor is to focus on smaller and medium-sized business markets where they’re able to assert dominance over rival payment services.
