Another billion-dollar story is being born on the domestic startup market. The Australian fintech company Zip is buying an almost 90% stake in the domestic payment application Twisto, for which it will pay 89 million euros, roughly 2.3 billion crowns. Australians will thus become the 100% owner of Twist, whose valuation will climb to 2.5 billion crowns, according to sources in the E15 daily.
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Zip has already invested in Twista in the last investment round, which ended earlier this year. It is the world’s leading deferred payments player with a market capitalization of around $ 2.3 billion. With its valuation, the Australian company ranks among unicorns, ie companies with a value exceeding one billion dollars.
“We are very pleased that Zip has chosen our team and product to expand into European markets. As part of last year’s investment, negotiations on a possible acquisition were already underway, and now, earlier than we expected, the Australian unicorn has expressed interest in negotiating the repurchase of shares of the remaining investors, “says Twist founder and boss Michal Šmída. The transaction is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of this year.
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Since the acquisition, ZIP has promised to strengthen its position in the deferred payments market in Europe, whose online stores earn $ 1.1 trillion a year, in terms of 23 trillion crowns. “By acquiring Twist, we are reaffirming our global ambitions,” said Zip co-founder and boss Larry Diamond.
The billion-dollar transaction is proof that Czech companies are able to create world-class products, says Maria Staszkiewicz from the Czech Fintech Association. “At the same time, it is a pity that Twisto will not try to build a global brand under the Czech flag,” she added.
The Australian company also announced the purchase of the remaining stake in the Spotia start-up from the United Arab Emirates. He has assistance in the area of deferred payments with expansion in the Middle East.
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Since 2013, Twisto has mediated fifteen million transactions for more than 1.5 million customers. In addition to the Czech Republic, it has been operating in Poland since 2019. Twisto account, the company’s main product, is used by over 180,000 customers.
In addition to a modern approach to payment using new technologies, the Czech start-up mainly offers deferred payments on the Internet. However, it is catching up with the competition in this area. On the Czech market, it is, for example, the Mall Pay payment system or similar services from Alza.cz or Equa Bank.
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