Fintech mergers and acquisitions in 2023 came against a backdrop of reduced deal activity, with PitchBook recording only 128 M&A deals in the first half of the year compared with 248 in H1 2022 and 188 in H2 2022. According to S&P Global Market Intelligence, the segments still drawing fintech mergers interest in 2023 included payments, treasury management software, and corporate spinoffs.
Despite the contraction, several large fintech mergers and acquisitions closed or were announced through the year. The 10 biggest fintech mergers of 2023 spanned payments processing, capital markets infrastructure, investment management software, insurance technology, and neobanking, with disclosed deal values ranging from undisclosed up to $18.5 billion.
Fintech Mergers in 2023 at a Glance
The largest disclosed fintech mergers of 2023 totalled tens of billions in transaction value across the United States, Europe, and Latin America. Private equity buyers were prominent across the list, accounting for at least three of the top five deals. Strategic acquirers among the largest fintech mergers included Visa, Nasdaq, and Deutsche Börse. The recap below follows the 2023 fintech deal slowdown context tracked at FintechBits.
1. FIS Sells Majority Stake in Worldpay to GTCR for $18.5 Billion
FIS announced on 6 July 2023 a definitive agreement to sell a 55% majority stake in its Worldpay Merchant Solutions business to private equity funds managed by GTCR, in a transaction valuing Worldpay at up to $18.5 billion. The valuation included $1 billion of consideration contingent on GTCR returns exceeding certain thresholds. FIS retained a 45% non-controlling stake and received approximately $11.7 billion in upfront net proceeds. GTCR committed up to $1.25 billion in additional capital for inorganic growth. Charles Drucker took over as CEO of Worldpay on closing.
2. Nasdaq Acquires Adenza from Thoma Bravo for $10.5 Billion
Nasdaq completed its $10.5 billion acquisition of Adenza in November 2023, the exchange operator’s largest acquisition. Adenza was formed in 2021 through Thoma Bravo’s merger of Calypso Technologies and AxiomSL. As part of the deal, Thoma Bravo received a 14.9% stake in Nasdaq. Nasdaq stated it expected to achieve $80 million in annual net expense synergies by the end of the second year following the acquisition, plus $100 million in long-term revenue synergies. The deal extended Nasdaq’s fintech footprint beyond exchange operations.
3. Deutsche Börse Acquires SimCorp for €3.9 Billion
Deutsche Börse completed its all-cash €3.9 billion acquisition of Danish investment management software provider SimCorp in September 2023. The German exchange operator first announced the offer on 27 April 2023 at DKK 735 per share, a 38.9% premium to SimCorp’s prior closing price of DKK 529. SimCorp’s investment management platform serves over 300 of the world’s largest financial institutions. The transaction was Deutsche Börse’s largest acquisition and formed part of its strategy to build out an Investment Management Solutions segment.
4. Vista Equity Partners Acquires Duck Creek Technologies for $2.6 Billion
Vista Equity Partners agreed to acquire InsurTech Duck Creek Technologies in an all-cash deal valued at approximately $2.6 billion, announced in January 2023. The $19 per share purchase price represented a 46% premium to Duck Creek’s closing price on 6 January 2023. Duck Creek was the largest fintech mergers transaction in Q1 2023 and added a property and casualty insurance technology platform to Vista’s portfolio. The deal closed in March 2023.
5. Francisco Partners Acquires Sumo Logic for $1.7 Billion
Francisco Partners completed its acquisition of Sumo Logic on 12 May 2023 in an all-cash transaction valuing the SaaS analytics platform at approximately $1.7 billion. The agreement was announced on 9 February 2023 at $12.05 per share, a 57% premium to Sumo Logic’s closing price on 20 January 2023. Sumo Logic, founded in 2010 and headquartered in Redwood City, California, became a private company on closing and delisted from Nasdaq.
6. Nuvei Acquires Paya Holdings for $1.3 Billion
Canadian payments fintech Nuvei completed its acquisition of US payments platform Paya Holdings in February 2023 for $1.3 billion. Paya processed approximately $50 billion in annual payment volume across high-growth verticals including healthcare, nonprofits, government, utilities, and B2B end markets. Nuvei stated the acquisition would extend its reach into under-penetrated and non-cyclical verticals. Paya was Nuvei’s largest acquisition at the time and was among the larger fintech mergers in payments processing during 2023.
7. Visa Acquires Pismo for $1 Billion
Visa announced on 28 June 2023 a definitive agreement to acquire Pismo for $1 billion in cash. Pismo, founded in 2016 in São Paulo, operates a cloud-native issuer processing and core banking platform across Latin America, Asia Pacific, and Europe. The platform powers approximately 80 million accounts and 40 million issued cards for clients including Citi, Itaú, Revolut, N26, and Nubank. Visa’s acquisition added cloud-native API capabilities for debit, prepaid, credit, and commercial cards, plus support for emerging payment rails including Brazil’s Pix.
8. Rapyd Acquires PayU GPO for $610 Million
Rapyd, a Fintech-as-a-Service provider, agreed to acquire PayU Global Payment Organisation (GPO) for $610 million in cash. PayU GPO is the payments and fintech arm of Prosus, the Netherlands-based consumer internet group. Rapyd stated the acquisition would significantly expand its presence in Central and Eastern Europe and Latin America. The Rapyd-PayU GPO transaction sat among the larger cross-border-focused fintech mergers of 2023 by disclosed value.
9. Papara Acquires Rebellion in Unicorn-Making Deal
Turkish neobank Papara announced on 5 July 2023 the acquisition of Madrid-based Spanish neobank Rebellion from Beka Finance in a multi-million-dollar cash and stock deal. The transaction propelled Papara’s valuation past $1 billion, making the company Turkey’s first fintech unicorn. Papara, founded in 2016 by Ahmed Karslı, had reached 16 million users by April 2023. Rebellion will rebrand as Papara Spain. The deal marked Papara’s first acquisition and its initial step outside the Turkish home market.
10. SimCorp Merges with Axioma
SimCorp announced its merger with Axioma on 7 November 2023, combining the investment management platform with Axioma’s factor risk models, portfolio construction tools, and multi-asset class enterprise risk solutions. Prior to the merger, Axioma was part of Qontigo, a Deutsche Börse Group subsidiary since 2019, and had been a strategic partner of SimCorp since 2021. Axioma’s solutions are used by over 380 investment managers globally, with a primary client base in North America. The merger followed Deutsche Börse’s September 2023 completion of the SimCorp acquisition.
These 10 fintech mergers of 2023 sit alongside other transactions tracked in the corporate acquisitions category at FintechBits, with deal flow continuing through the European fintech recovery into Q1 2025.
