Naspers Backed Online Payments Platform PayU Pockets Rival Citrus Pay For $130 Mn

Gurgaon-based online payment service provider PayU has acquired its rival online payment gateway CitrusPay. The deal was closed at $130 Mn, making it by far the biggest M&A cash deal in Indian fintech.

Post completion, Citrus Pay will be wholly owned by Naspers. Amrish Rau, MD, Citrus Pay, will become the CEO of PayU in India. He will report to PayU Global CEO, Laurent le Moal, and will lead the entrepreneurial management team across PayU and Citrus Pay.

Laurent le Moal, CEO of PayU said, “We are excited about the opportunity to capitalise on our shared heritage in payments and build a broader financial services proposition, something PayU is focussed on across all of the 16 countries we operate in.”

Citrus Pay founder Jitendra Gupta will drive PayU’s fintech foray into credit through Citrus Pay’s offering Lazypay. While PayU co-founder Shailaz Nag, will focus on new areas of growth through bank alliances. Nitin Gupta, PayU co-founder will help complete the transition to the new leadership team before departing PayU to pursue his entrepreneurial ambitions.

Based in Mumbai, Citrus Pay was founded by Jitendra Gupta and Satyen Kothari in 2011. In June this year, it also launched a contextual commerce platform, Sellfie, that enables individuals and small businesses to sell and collect payments on social networks and instant messengers using buy buttons, payment links, and chat bots.

Citrus Pay has so far raised $33 Mn in four rounds of funding – undisclosed amount in Seed funding in 2012, $2 Mn in Series A in 2012, $5.5 Mn in Series B, 2013, and $25 Mn in Series C in 2015.

The deal is expected to increase PayU India’s user base to 30 Mn, processing a forecasted 150 Mn transactions in 2016 worth a combined $4.2 Bn, growing at 50%+ Y-o-Y. PayU will maximise its existing franchise in ecommerce, and grow vertical market leadership in the airline and telecom industries on the back of Citrus Pay’s platform. PayU will also continue to develop Citrus Pay’s consumer brands, LazyPay and Sellfie.

PayU India, is the flagship company of Naspers Group. It was established in 2011 and was led by co-founder & CEO Nitin Gupta, and co-founder & COO Shailaz Nag. PayU has over 250 payment methods and PCI (Payment Card Industry)-certified platforms. It claims to have more than 1,800 payment specialists based in local markets supporting PayU’s 200,000+ merchants and consumers making online payments.