Financial operations platform BILL rejects rumors he wants to buy Melio Payments.
“Although BILL’s general policy is not to comment on market rumors or media speculation, BILL does not pursue any such action. acquisition at that time,“ the company said in a press release provided to PYMNTS on Thursday (Nov. 9). A Melio spokesperson also told PYMNTS that the company does not “comment on rumors and speculation.”
The statement came following a Bloomberg News report that the company was work on a cash and stock basis agreement This would value Melio at $1.95 billion,
Melio was estimated to $4 billion in 2021 after raising $250 million in a funding round.
BILL has faced a decline in spending by small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), Bloomberg reported. It has introduced new purchase order tools for SMEs last month.
Data from PYMNTS Intelligence and Cross River A study found that SME are in a precarious situation, with almost 10% of them saying they consider themselves to be at risk of closure.
The FinTech sector is also struggling, as noted in “FinTechs look to M&A for profitability as economic crisis continues”, an episode of PYMNTS’ FinTech Tracker® series.
“FinTechs continue to face powerful economic headwinds in 2023,” the report said. “Rising interest rates, high inflation, and declining consumer spending have put FinTech companies’ pioneering models under pressure, requiring painful adjustments.”
This year started with Canadian FinTech Nuvei announcing that it would acquire a payments company Paya in the amount of 1.3 billion dollars all-cash deal.
The purchase continued a trend that was underway last year and saw larger companies like International Payments And Fiserv buying smaller competitors to help them expand and diversify their operations.
Fiserv, a global provider of payments and financial services technology solutions, partnered with Melio last month on an offering designed to help financial institutions streamline accounts payable and to receive for SMEs.
The collaboration involves a solution called CashFlow Central, available from Fiserv, which aims to help financial institutions better serve small businesses and regain market share from their competitors in direct-to-business sales.
“Financial institutions now have a solution, a complete and integrated experience that is perfectly suited to small businesses, allowing them to pay and be paid electronically and instantly,” said John GibbonsHead of Fiserv’s Financial Institutions Group.
