Yapily snaps up German open banking firm as it ‘builds the muscles’ for global push
London fintech Yapily announced it had snapped up German open banking firm finAPI today as it “builds the muscles” for a push into new global markets.
Yapily, which last year raised $51m in a Series B funding round, is now set to earn the crown of largest open banking platform in Europe after the completion of the finAPI acquisition, which will double its customer base.
Yapily boss Stefano Vaccino told City A.M. the deal would help fuel Yapily’s global growth ambitions .
“We wanted to accelerate our path to European leadership, which is our first objective, before over time becoming the global leader in open finance,” he said.
“This acquisition is bringing a great team with 10+ years of experience in open banking, and a lot of customers that we can then expand across Europe.”
Yapily declined to disclose the value of the deal, which is set for regulatory approval in the second half of the year, other than that it was “multi-million pounds”.
It will now see Yapily move into the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia, alongside Yapily’s 16 active European markets, with the firm poised to move into new continents in the future.
“In the short term, we want to make sure this acquisition is a success. But we are building the muscles to do it again, especially in new continents,” Vaccino told City A.M.
The tie-up comes amid a flurry of dealmaking in open banking as big tech and payments firms swoop into the space.
Apple was the latest tech titan to make a move when it bought UK startup Credit Kudos for $150m, which provides an alternative to credit scoring via open banking data transfer, while Visa acquired Swedish open banking platform Tink for $1.8bn last year.