05 Jul 2019
Global Fintech player PayU expands its operations to Southeast Asia
PayU, the payments and fintech business of Naspers, today announces the acquisition of a majority stake in Red Dot Payment, a Southeast Asia focused online payment solutions provider. With this transaction, PayU expands into the Southeast Asia region and brings the total amount deployed in fintech investments and M&A to north of $700 million over the last three years. The move demonstrates PayU’s commitment to becoming the leading payments solution provider in high-growth markets and one of the largest fintech investors in the world.
Formed in 2011 by a group of payment experts from various Fortune 500 companies in the industry, RDP has grown into Singapore’s largest home-grown and trusted online payment solutions fintech company, delivering innovative, secure and customised payment solutions for all enterprise sizes across Asia and beyond. With an ever-expanding presence across Southeast Asia, including offices in Indonesia and Thailand, RDP has been focused on booming verticals such as online retail, hospitality, charity, food delivery and more.
According to one Google-Temasek study, Southeast Asia is one of the fastest growing digital payments markets in the world, and is expected to triple in size to US$240 billion in total payments volume by 2025. The region is already home to 350 million internet users across its six largest countries, exceeding that of the population of the United States, presenting an immense business potential for global merchants. With this deal, PayU successfully creates a winning proposition for global merchants by integrating RDP platforms into the PayU Hub. PayU can now build a best-in-class cross-border product by offering more local alternate payment methods and connectivity.
Laurent le Moal, CEO of PayU, commented, “This investment is PayU’s first step towards expansion in the SEA region. We will now provide our existing global merchants access to Southeast Asia with a single API integration, thus strengthening our global PayU Hub platform. Owing to the immense potential that the SEA market presents, PayU sees a vast opportunity in this region to grow and innovate further. We will continue to look for prospects to reinforce our footprints in this market.”
“As part of our business strategy, PayU will collaborate with the promising founders who are driven by an entrepreneurial passion. We’re excited to welcome Randy and the team to PayU as we continue to pursue our vision of creating a world without financial borders”, he further added.
Randy Tan, CEO and Founder of Red Dot Payment, added: "We are proud of how far we have come and that PayU, a leading global fintech operator and investor, recognises the strength, depth, and breadth of the company that we have built with unwavering dedication over the past eight years. It has never been easy for global merchants to enter Southeast Asia as they benefit from RDP’s strong local connectivity combined with PayU’s global footprints and experience. We are pleased that RDP will be part of the Naspers’ fintech portfolio as we look forward to continued extension of our business and market position in Southeast Asia to be the fintech payment solutions champion in this region."
Under the terms of the agreement, PayU has acquired a majority stake in RDP in a transaction valuing the company at US$65 million. The founder will continue to retain a stake in the company, while the majority of other shareholders will exit. Evolve Capital Asia acted as the exclusive financial adviser to the Founder and selling shareholders.
About PayU
PayU is the leading online payment service provider in 18 high growth markets, dedicated to creating a fast, simple and efficient payment process for merchants and buyers. Focused on empowering people through financial services and creating a world without financial borders where everyone can prosper, PayU is one of the biggest investors in the fintech space, with investments totalling $700 million to date.
Our local operations in Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa enable us to combine the expertise of high growth companies with our own unique local knowledge and technology to ensure that our customers have access to the best financial services.
PayU supports over 300,000+ merchants and millions of consumers making payments online with over 250 payment methods and 1,800+ payment specialists. The markets in which PayU operates represent a potential consumer base of nearly 2.3 billion people and a huge growth potential for merchants. For more information please visit: www.payu.com.
About Red Dot
Red Dot Payment (RDP) is a leading and trusted online payment solutions provider in Asia, serving more than 500 merchants across 22 countries and counting. RDP supports global and local alternate payment methods such as Visa, Mastercard, UnionPay, WeChat Pay, Alipay, Paylah, Virtual Accounts, and more. In addition, RDP offers payment solutions with the ease of integration into a single payment platform to our merchants, acquirers and partners, allowing them to manage their online businesses with greater confidence, whilst mitigating risk and capitalising on opportunities with better insights on the purchasing trends.
RDP is a Singapore company founded in 2011, with headquarters in Singapore and offices in Indonesia, Thailand and Australia. Through our commitment to innovation and quality, we have become a trusted participant in the digital payment ecosystem. For more information, visit www.reddotpayment.com.
About Naspers
Naspers is a global consumer internet group and one of the largest technology investors in the world. Operating and investing in countries and markets across the world with long-term growth potential, Naspers builds leading companies that empower people and enrich communities. The group operates and partners a number of leading internet businesses across Central and Eastern Europe, Africa, the Americas and Asia in sectors including online classifieds, payments and fintech, food delivery, travel, education, health, and social and internet platforms.
Media Contact:
For Red Dot Payment:
Maureen Siah | [email protected]
For PayU:
Dimple Mehta| [email protected]
About Naspers
Established in 1915, Naspers has transformed itself to become a global consumer internet company and one of the largest technology investors in the world. Through Prosus, the group operates and invests globally in markets with long-term growth potential, building leading consumer internet companies that empower people and enrich communities. Prosus has its primary listing on Euronext Amsterdam, and a secondary listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and Naspers is the majority owner of Prosus.
In South Africa, Naspers is one of the foremost investors in the technology sector and is committed to building its internet and ecommerce companies. These include Takealot, Mr D Food, Superbalist, Autotrader, Property24 and PayU, in addition to Media24, South Africa’s leading print and digital media business.
Naspers has a primary listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (NPN.SJ), a secondary listing on the A2X Exchange (NPN.AJ) in South Africa, and has a level 1 American Depository Receipt (ADR) programme which trades on an over-the-counter basis in the United States of America.
For more information, please visit www.naspers.com.
Naspers Labs
In 2019, Naspers Labs, a youth development programme designed to transform and launch South Africa’s unemployed youth into economic activity, was launched. Naspers Labs focuses on digital skills and training, enabling young people to pursue tech careers.
Response to COVID-19
Naspers contributed R1.5 billion of emergency aid to support the South African government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This contribution consisted of R500 million towards the Solidarity Fund and R1 billion worth of PPE sourced and distributed to South Africa’s front-line healthcare workers. In addition, Naspers contributed R6.9 million to the Nelson Mandela Foundation's EachOne FeedOne programme to support families who COVID-19 has impacted with meals for a year.