Rapyd Raises $500M & Acquires PayU GPO: A Fintech Embedded Finance Power Move

Rapyd’s $500 million fundraising to buy PayU’s Global Payment Organization (GPO) marks one of fintech’s largest recent acquisition bets. The London-based fintech-as-a-service provider (founded in Israel) secured the $500 M round at a $4.5 B valuation – a down-round from its $10 B 2021 peak – to finance the approximately $610 M purchase of PayU’s global payments division. Dutch investor Prosus (Naspers) agreed to sell PayU’s GPO unit to Rapyd, excluding PayU’s operations in India, Turkey, and Southeast Asia.  

The deal, initially signed in August 2023, closed in March 2025 after approvals from seven regulators worldwide. By completing this fintech acquisition, Rapyd not only expanded its embedded finance footprint across emerging markets but also achieved a scale of 1,600+ employees and over $1 B in annual revenue post-merger, operating across Europe, the UK, South America, Asia, the U.S., and soon Israel. It’s a landmark startup fundraising and fintech acquisition that underscores investor confidence in Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) platforms even amid a market downturn.

Rapyd’s Fintech Fundraising Amid a Downturn 

 Rapyd’s ability to raise $500 M in fresh funding in the current environment is noteworthy. This latest round – led by investors including General Catalyst, Vista, and TAL Ventures – brings Rapyd’s total funding to over $1 B. It valued the company at about $4.5 B, which is less than half of Rapyd’s $10 B valuation in 2021 during the fintech boom.  

 The sizable raise indicates that, despite a broader fintech downturn, there is still appetite to back embedded finance leaders with proven scale. In fact, Rapyd’s CEO noted the fundraise accounts for roughly 3% of all fintech fundraising in 2023, underscoring how exceptional this deal is relative to anaemic funding conditions.  

 By leveraging a mix of equity and some debt, Rapyd secured the war chest needed to seize a strategic opportunity. This contrarian fundraising move – a massive startup fundraising success in a tight market – positions Rapyd to continue expanding when many fintech's are retrenching. It also potentially sets the stage for an IPO, as Rapyd’s leadership has signalled ambitions to go public when market conditions allow. 

Strategic Fintech Acquisition: Inside the PayU GPO Deal 

 The acquisition target, PayU’s “Global Payment Organization” (GPO), is the international payments arm of PayU that operates in 30+ countries across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. PayU GPO provides payment processing solutions for enterprises and SMBs in these emerging markets. Notably, Prosus excluded PayU’s largest markets – India, Turkey, and Southeast Asia – from the sale, retaining those high-growth regions. Rapyd is effectively picking up PayU’s substantial operations in the rest of the world, which had been contributing to Prosus’s fintech segment but also to some losses. Several other payment giants vied for this asset in a competitive tender before Rapyd won the deal, highlighting the strategic value of PayU’s footprint. 

By March 2025, all regulatory approvals were in place, allowing Rapyd and Prosus to close the transaction and integrate operations. The deal’s completion boosts Rapyd’s workforce to roughly 1,600 people and pushes its revenues above $1 B annually, a rare scale for a fintech startup. Rapyd now inherits PayU GPO’s extensive local licenses and payment connections across emerging markets, which is a complex task that required sign-off from regulators on multiple continents. 

 “Following the acquisition, Rapyd will employ ~1,600 people and operate in Europe, the UK, South America, Asia, the U.S., and soon Israel, with revenues exceeding $1 B” – a quantum leap from its pre-deal footprint. The integration process is underway, combining teams and technology. This fintech acquisition not only expands Rapyd’s geographic reach but also significantly strengthens its product offerings in regions where PayU GPO was a leading payment processor. It’s a strategic union that accelerates Rapyd’s mission to “create the world’s largest global fintech,” as evidenced by the bold expansion plan. 

Embedded Finance Expansion and BaaS Synergies 

 Bringing PayU GPO under Rapyd’s umbrella creates substantial synergies in the realm of embedded finance and Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS). Rapyd’s core platform offers fintech-as-a-service APIs that enable businesses to embed payments, digital wallets, bank transfers, and even card issuance into their applications. Prior to the acquisition, Rapyd (founded in 2015) had built a global customer base including major enterprises like Meta, Netflix, Uber, IKEA and others, mostly in developed markets.  

PayU’s GPO, on the other hand, brought deep expertise in emerging markets payments – serving local merchants and global companies across Latin America, Africa, and Central/Eastern Europe. By combining Rapyd’s fintech-as-a-service model with PayU GPO’s on-the-ground networks, the merged entity can offer a truly end-to-end embedded finance solution worldwide. Rapyd’s CEO Arik Shtilman highlighted “expanded geographic licensing” and a “richer technology stack” as key synergies from the deal. Essentially, Rapyd can now provide its customers unified access to both developed and emerging markets through one integrated platform – a powerful value proposition in the BaaS space. 

To understand the complementary strengths of Rapyd vs. PayU GPO, here’s a quick comparison: 

With PayU GPO integrated, Rapyd’s capabilities are dramatically enhanced. The newly enlarged Rapyd boasts: 

These figures highlight how the merger propels Rapyd into the top tier of global fintech companies. “Rapyd’s been on a mission to build bold,” Shtilman said, noting nearly 100% year-over-year growth in 2023 and a strategy of combining organic growth and acquisitions to become one of the world’s largest integrated fintech platforms. In effect, Rapyd is emerging as a one-stop embedded finance and BaaS partner with unparalleled geographic coverage. 

Enhanced Card Acquiring & Principal Membership Advantages 

 One immediate benefit of the PayU acquisition is a significant expansion of Rapyd’s card acquiring capabilities in emerging markets. PayU’s infrastructure gives Rapyd on-the-ground card processing in six key Latin American countries (Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Peru), plus parts of Africa and Eastern Europe that were part of PayU GPO. This complements Rapyd’s existing card acquiring strength in Europe (where Rapyd had obtained a principal membership with Visa and Mastercard, allowing it to directly acquire merchants and issue cards in the UK/EU).  

By combining networks, Rapyd can now offer merchants local card acquiring in regions covering over half the globe. In practice, a business using Rapyd’s platform can accept local cards and alternative payments in a far broader set of countries through a single integration – a key competitive advantage in the payments space. 

 Rapyd has a track record of using acquisitions to bolster its card processing stack. In 2021, it acquired Iceland’s Valitor for $100 M to enhance its European in-store payments and card issuing capabilities. Now with PayU GPO, Rapyd extends that strategy to high-growth emerging markets. The principal membership status Rapyd holds with the card networks can be leveraged across the new markets gained, meaning Rapyd can operate as a direct acquirer and issuer in many of those countries without third-party intermediaries.  

This leads to better economics (lower fees), more control over the merchant onboarding experience, and faster deployment of new card products or services. In short, the deal supercharges Rapyd’s offering in card acquiring, marrying its BaaS innovations with PayU’s local acquiring expertise. Rapyd is now positioned to provide a complete payment solution – from credit cards to bank transfers – enabling clients worldwide to embed financial services seamlessly for their end-users. 

Outlook: A Fintech Powerhouse in the Making 

 Rapyd’s bold expansion through the PayU GPO acquisition is a bet on scale and global reach as defining advantages in fintech. As many fintechs face pressure and consolidation in 2024-2025, Rapyd is taking an aggressive growth-by-acquisition approach. “At a time when privately backed fintechs…continue to face a lot of negative pressure amid a wider downturn, Rapyd plans to take advantage of that and make more acquisitions,” CEO Shtilman noted. This contrarian strategy mirrors the approach PayU itself took over the years (PayU had grown by acquiring regional players and even attempted a $4.7 B acquisition of BillDesk in India that fell through) . By absorbing PayU’s international arm, Rapyd has vaulted ahead in the race to build a global embedded finance powerhouse. 

 Looking ahead, Rapyd will focus on smoothly integrating PayU GPO’s operations and technology. Executives from both firms expressed optimism that the combined entity will “meet the evolving needs of the dynamic fintech landscape globally.” With its enhanced platform, Rapyd can target new verticals and markets – for example, offering embedded finance solutions to global e-commerce, SaaS, and marketplaces that need local payment acceptance in emerging economies. The company’s increased scale and revenue may also bring its long-discussed IPO plans closer to reality, market conditions permitting. 

 In summary, Rapyd’s $610 M acquisition of PayU GPO – fueled by a $500 M funding round – underscores a pivotal moment in fintech. It highlights how Banking-as-a-Service innovators are using M&A to accelerate their vision of unified, global financial infrastructure. By blending Rapyd’s API-driven BaaS platform with PayU’s local payments prowess, the deal creates a formidable fintech principal member in the payments world. This move not only expands Rapyd’s embedded finance capabilities but also sends a signal: even in a tough market for fundraising, bold fintech ventures can secure backing to reshape the industry. All eyes will be on Rapyd as it integrates PayU GPO and seeks to deliver on its promise of making global commerce as easy as being next door – a promise now more within reach than ever.