PayPal announced last night that it is buying European Square competitor iZettle in a deal worth $2.2 billion. While this may raise questions around the ambitions of European technology startups, given that iZettle had recently revealed its intention to go public, it also highlighted how eager PayPal is to boost its brick-and-mortar aspirations in Europe.
But how does the iZettle deal compare to PayPal’s previous acquisitions? It turns out that iZettle represents PayPal’s biggest acquisition by a hefty margin.
Here’s a look at the five biggest previous PayPal acquisitions that we have figures for. Some of these include deals technically completed by eBay, as PayPal’s previous parent company.
1. Xoom (2015): $890 million
PayPal snapped up international money transfer service Xoom for $890 million back in 2015. This was PayPal’s final acquisition before it spun out from parent company eBay. The San Francisco-based company continues to operate today as a standalone service within PayPal.
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2. Braintree (2013): $800 million
Mobile and web payments processing company Braintree became part of PayPal’s business in 2013, with the latter paying $800 million to close the deal. Braintree remains a key business unit for PayPal today, facilitating payments for ecommerce companies around the world.
3. Paydiant (2015): $280 million
PayPal bought out mobile payments startup Paydiant for $280 million in 2015, and it continues to operate as a PayPal unit under its own brand today. Paydiant provides a range of services for merchants and banks, including a white-label platform for companies to build their own mobile wallets.
4. Tio Networks (2017): $238 million
PayPal snapped up Canada-based bill payments services company Tio Networks last summer for $238 million. However, all has not gone well — PayPal suspended Tio Networks’ operations late last year following a data breach and broader concerns over security vulnerabilities in its platform.
In March, PayPal announced it would be winding down Tio Networks permanently.
5. Swift Financial (2017): $183 million
PayPal acquired Delaware-based Swift Financial last year, with a view to expanding the working capital program for small businesses it launched in 2013. Terms of the deal were not disclosed at first, but an SEC filing shortly afterward pegged the value of the deal at around $183 million.
PayPal has made 13 known acquisitions in its nearly 20-year history, and though we don’t have dollar values for each of them, we can be sure that iZettle represents its biggest acquisition by 2.5 times. That’s how much PayPal wants to infiltrate physical retail outlets in Europe.
