Visa, the largest card network in the US, has agreed to purchase European open-banking service provider Tink for $2.15 billion (€1.8 billion), according to a press release.
The Swedish-based digital financial service startup utilizes the EU and UK’s open banking regulation to connect over 3,400 banks and financial institutions across Europe. Tink’s service has access to over 250 million customers through a single API, that allows it to verify account ownership, initiate payments, aggregate consumer financial data and build financial management tools.
The acquisition gives Visa a fast-track into Europe’s open banking market, which has grown rapidly due to legislation allowing financial institutions to access customer data from competitors if authorized by the user.
“By bringing together Visa’s network of networks and Tink’s open banking capabilities we will deliver increased value to European consumers and businesses with tools to make their financial lives more simple, reliable and secure,” Visa CEO Al Kelly stated in the release.
Founded in 2012 by CEO Daniel Kjellén and CTO Fredrik Hedberg, Tink has raised over $308.4 million(€258 million) in funding since its Series A in 2014.
The company was last privately valued at almost $811 million (€680M) after it raised a $85 million venture round led by Eurazeo and Dawn Capital. Previous investors Heartcore Capital, PayPal Ventures, ABN AMRO, Opera Tech Ventures, Poste Italiane S.p.A. and HMI Capital also contributed to the December 2020 investment.
“Teaming up with Visa means we’ll now be able to move faster and reach further than ever before, and we know that Visa is the perfect partner for the next stage of our journey,” Tink’s founders said in a blog post Thursday.
Visa was previously in talks to acquire American rival Plaid Inc. for $5.3 billion, before the US Justice Department sued to block the deal in November in an antitrust lawsuit, citing a risk for Visa to maintain a monopoly in the online debit card market, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Plaid has since chosen to move forward as an independent company, with a recent valuation of $13.4 billion. The company recently announced a partnership with payment processor Square, to create a simpler, more cost-effective method for processing ACH payments.
In other recent fintech news, Viva Republica, developer of financial “super app” Toss, raised $410 million in an all-equity funding round led by Alkeon Capital. Banking startup Zeller, which plans to take on Australia’s core four banks, also announced raising A$50 million in its Series A round.