MessageBird seeks entry into financial services with call for potential acquisitions
Dutch cloud communication platform MessageBird has expressed a keen interest in licenced payment service providers to form its next acquisition.
MessageBird looks to acquire EMI/PI licensee
Announcing the call via LinkedIn, CEO and founder Robert Vis stipulated that the platform’s search is currently focused on companies achieving revenues of up to $5 million.
He also revealed MessageBird’s intention to acquire those currently in receipt of an electronic money institution (EMI) or payment institution (PI) licence.
With Vis describing the move as a “once in a lifetime” opportunity for prospective target companies, the announcement signals the platform’s increasing interest in tapping payment capabilities.
Founded in 2011 and based in Amsterdam, MessageBird currently enables enterprises to communicate with their customers through API-driven omnichannel solutions. These solutions extend across the majority of the most popular communication channels, including WhatsApp, SMS, Facebook Messenger and WeChat, among others.
While its acquisition activity to date has centred largely around the enhancement of its communication abilities, as seen through its 2021 acquisition of email marketing platform SparkPost following its $1 billion Series C funding round, MessageBird has yet to define its place within the financial services industry.
However, acquiring an EMI or PI licence holder could mark a favourable starting point in the platform’s indicated intention to venture into payment services like digital wallets, prepaid cards and electronic payment transactions, as was the case with US private equity firm Advent International’s acquisition of UK paytech myPOS in November.
As first reported by Tech.eu shortly after the call went live, Vis claims to have now received enquiries from “about 30 companies”, adding that its main point of focus isn’t in acquiring technology, but rather, in acquiring teams, a licence and “maybe customers”.
