PayPal leads $50m funding round in PPRO
PayPal has led a $50 million investment round in UK-headquartered payments firm PPRO Group. Citi Ventures and return investor HPE Growth Capital also participated.
According to PPRO, it enables businesses to accept more than 140 alternative payments globally. There were no specifics, but it will use the investment to expand its platform and international presence of its alternative payments acquiring business.
Arnold Goldberg, VP of merchant product and technology, PayPal, says: “We recently signed a commercial agreement with [PPRO] to provide a wide range of payment options for our merchants, so consumers can shop seamlessly across borders through the new PayPal Checkout with Smart Payment Buttons, Braintree and all of our merchant products.”
PPRO adds that credit cards are used for payment in less than 20% of worldwide e-commerce transactions.
The firm explains that in many markets consumers instead choose locally preferred alternative payment methods such as bank transfers, e-wallets, and cash-based payments.
PPRO sees itself as an independent partner for payment service providers (PSPs), processing and collecting alternative payments through a single contract without competing for merchants.
The investment is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to close in the third quarter of 2018.
Returning to PayPal and the theme of its massive wallet. Last week, PayPal president and CEO Dan Schulman said its spending spree over the past few years (five acquisitions in the past 24 months) is not slowing down yet.
