London-based fintech expands into Europe with latest multi-million pound acquisition

Equals Group Plc has announced its expansion into Europe, via the acquisition (subject to regulatory approval) of Oonex SA, a full service payment institution licensed in Belgium, for a total of £4.1 million.

Oonex provides global payment services to payment and fintech companies, including licensing, technology and legal services to support their vision. Oonex is a principal member of Mastercard and provides access to Visa, Mastercard, Amex JCB and Carte Bancaire acquiring as ISO.

With a GDP of over €14tn and a population of more than 700 million, Europe is one of the world’s largest markets for the payments industry and presents a significant growth opportunity for Equals Group. The region’s increasing use of digital payments and e-commerce has created a great demand for secure and efficient payment solutions.

Equals intends to roll out its business payments, expense management and current account products across the EEA using Oonex’s fully passported licence. In addition, it will offer its Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) and Embedded Finance products to larger companies and other European financial institutions.

The product will be fully integrated with its UK and US offerings, providing access to the three major markets through a single product.

The announcement comes as trading updates for the first quarter show that revenue in Q1 2023 to 24 March 2023 reached £20.2m, growing from £13.2m in the same period in 2022, an increase of 54 per cent, which shows continued rapid growth in the company.

Ian Strafford-Taylor, CEO of Equals Group, commented: “The expansion into Europe is in line with Equals Group’s wider growth strategy, aimed at increasing our global footprint and strengthening our position as a leading payments technology company.

“We believe this move will enable us to tap into new markets, expand our customer base and generate incremental revenue streams.”

James Simcox, Head of Product at Equals Group, added: “We have made a significant investment in our technology and payment platform over the last few years which will allow us to quickly deploy new products to the European market and we are confident that we can meet the different needs of businesses across the continent.

Fabien Boursin, CEO and founder of Oonex, concluded: “We have worked hard over the past nine years to build an enviable licensing portfolio and we now look forward to delivering the opportunity to drive the business forward with the technology, know-how and customer base to the wider Equals group.”

By Matthew Neville – Senior Correspondent, Bdaily

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