PayPal to acquire iZettle and challenge Square
The world of cashless consumption continues to expand as PayPal (PYPL) makes a direct move to compete with Square (SQ) on its home turf by acquiring iZettle. This also brings it into competition with Verifone (PAY) and other payment/transaction hardware companies. Our view has been the mobile payments landscape, like many that are in their early innings, is highly fragmented but moves like this one by PayPal and Ingenico’s recent strategic tie up with Tematica Investing Select List resident USA Technologies (USAT) suggest it is starting to mature. As consolidation continues, lines will be drawn and features refined that are likely to foster greater mobile payment adoption. Now if only consumer would understand that mobile payments are more secure than online ones…
PayPal (PYPL) confirmed on Thursday it’s reached a deal to buy payments start-up iZettle for $2.2 billion — the biggest acquisition in its history.U.S.-based PayPal already operates in more than 200 countries around the world but is working to expand its offerings. IZettle provides mobile card readers and other digital payment products to small businesses. A merger would catapult PayPal into hundreds of thousands of brick-and-mortar storefronts globally in an effort to bring its digital payments tool into physical retailers and compete with companies, like Square.
Source: PayPal buying start-up iZettle for $2.2 billion, rivaling Square
