New York-based fintech Payoneer has acquired Skada global HR and payroll startup based in Singapore, for $61 million in cash, the company told TechCrunch exclusively.
Payoneer said it could also pay up to $10 million more, provided Skuad meets various performance targets in the first 18 months following the acquisition. Payoneer also committed to granting $10 million in restricted stock units, the vesting of which is contingent on the continued employment of key personnel. In total, Payoneer could pay out up to around $81 million.
It’s a pretty quick release for Skad founder Sundeep Sahi, who launched the company in 2019 with the aim of simplifying international recruitment. Since then, the company’s goal has been to help small and medium-sized businesses in more than 160 countries (with more than 100 currencies) solve problems that make building distributed teams difficult, such as variations in business regulations. market to market, international salaries and remote integration. .
There was raised approximately $19 million in venture capital from investors such as Beenext, Anthemis, NMVM, Argor Capital and several angel investors before being acquired.
Payer is a provider of cross-border payment services to approximately 2 million businesses in more than 190 countries and territories. Its market capitalization stands at nearly $2.5 billion.
Payoneer and Skuad both target SMEs that operate internationally, particularly in emerging markets, while other larger payroll startups such as Deel and Rippling “tend to focus on large enterprises and enterprises,” said John Caplan, CEO of Payoneer.
Payoneer has over 2,150 employees. Skuad has about 200 employees, all of whom are joining Payoneer as part of the acquisition, according to Caplan. He declined to reveal Skuad’s financials, saying only that it had a “high-growth recurring revenue model.” For its part, Payoneer too announcement Wednesday, record turnover of $240 million, up 16% year-on-year.
“One of the biggest opportunities Payoneer is pursuing is to capture share in the $6 trillion B2B market. SMEs around the world are exploiting global opportunities by exporting goods and services across borders. For example, BPOs in the Philippines, marketing agencies in the UAE, beauty exporters in South Korea, etc. “, Caplan told TechCrunch. BPO refers to business process outsourcing, as the Philippines is known for its call centers and other IT support services.
“Remote work is here to stay in a post-pandemic world. Businesses are under increasing pressure to reduce labor costs. And we’re seeing a shift from individual freelance models to companies looking for more scalable solutions,” Caplan said.
Payoneer plans to integrate Skuad’s payroll and contract management offering into its own offering.
As the fintech market suffers from the slowdown in venture capital, acquisitions among players have increased. As of mid-April, 159 deals had been announced or completed so far in 2024, similar to last year’s pace, according to Capstone Partners.
Payoneer, which went public in 2021 via a SPAC merger backed by fintech entrepreneur Betsy Cohen (founder of Bancorp), became one of the buyers. In August 2023, Payoneer announcement that it was buying AI data startup Spott and also bought a payments company licensed to do business in China in a deal expected to close later this year. And in 2019, Payoneer acquired a German payment startup called optile.
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