Argentine payments services startup tapi has acquired the bill payment and cash-handling operations of Mastercard’s Arcus in Mexico, part of a bid to double-down on Latin America’s second-largest economy.
Tapi, whose founders are Argentine but has its largest operations in Mexico, works with banks and fintechs to process recurring payments, cash transactions, and other payments through a single integration. It also processes payments for companies such as Mercado Pago, DollarApp and Stori.
The deal gives tapi access to a wide network of cash-in and cash-out locations, such as OXXO and 7-Eleven, and expands its connectivity to billers across the country, the company said. By taking over Arcus’ payment network, tapi is aiming to expand digitization efforts in a market where cash coexists with a growing fintech adoption.
“Our hybrid cash and digital model is what has allowed us to grow at the pace that we have,” CEO and co-founder Tomás Mindlin said in an interview. “It has helped us facilitate payments for fintechs by centralising their payments into a single connection, and on the other hand, it helps fintechs reach users who were previously excluded from the digital ecosystem.”
The company declined to disclose the value of the deal, but Mindlin noted that the operation was an all-cash transaction and that it plans to use part of the US$32 million raised in total, along with the profit the company has generated in the past three years, to fund the acquisition.
Tapi expects the expansion will allow them to process more than 270 million transactions in Latin America by the end of this year, representing a total payment volume of US$5.5 billion.
Mastercard — Arcus’ parent company — will retain the brand and the payment processing and reconciliation technologies through Mexico’s real-time interbank network SPEI.
“We believe it will be an investment that will pay off very quickly, both in terms of current cash flow, the full scope of what Tapi and Arcus can do together, and the growth of the fintech industry in the region,” said Mindlin. “However, we are not here to make profits in the short-term, but rather to drive the development of the sector in Latin America, especially in Mexico.”
by Maria Clara Cobo, Bloomberg
Comments