Global leader in digital Payments, Visa, has acquired payments infrastructure tech startup Pismo for $1 billion, to provide core banking and issuer processing capabilities across debit, prepaid, credit, and commercial cards for clients.
Through this acquisition, cloud-based payment startup Pismo will allow Visa to offer support and connectivity for emerging payment platforms like Pix, an instant payment platform created and managed by the monetary authority of Brazil, the Central Bank of Brazil.
The deal which will be paid in cash and is expected to close by the end of the year, is suggested to be one of the largest fintech M&A deals taking place this year.
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Speaking on the acquisition of Pismo, Visa wrote via a statement that “It will be positioned to provide core banking and issuer processing capabilities across debit, prepaid, credit and commercial cards for clients via cloud-native APIs. The startup’s platform will also enable Visa to provide support and connectivity for emerging payment rails, like Pix in Brazil, for financial institution clients”, the company added.
Visa Chief Product and Strategy Officer Jack Forestell said,
“Through the acquisition of Pismo, Visa can better serve our financial institution and fintech clients with more differentiated issuer solutions they can offer their customers. The deal, which is subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions, is slated to close by year’s end. Pismo will retain its current management team, who will remain based in São Paulo”.
Also commenting on the deal, Co-founder and CEO of Pismo Ricardo Josua said,
“At Pismo, we aim to enable our clients to launch cutting-edge payments and banking products within a single cloud-native platform regardless of rails, geography, or currency. Visa provides us unrivaled support to expand our footprint globally and help shape a new era for banking and payments”.
Pismo is an all-in-one platform that offers a variety of products in a cloud-native environment to help clients future-proof their business. Its clients include tier-1 banks, major retailers, and game-changing neo-banks from around the globe.
Digital lending is part of Pismo’s cloud-native and API-based platform. It brings agility and flexibility to accelerate the creation of new products, covering traditional business and consumer offerings, as well as new opportunities such as Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL), for banks and fintechs of all sizes.
Since its Series B funding round led by SoftBank, Amazon, and Accel, which raised $108 million in October 2021, Pismo has grown exponentially.
As Visa positions itself to provide core banking and issuer processing capabilities, the acquisition of Pismo will see both companies better positioned to provide core banking and issuer processing capabilities across debit, prepaid, credit, and commercial cards for clients via cloud-native APIs.
Pismo’s platform will also enable Visa to provide support and connectivity for emerging payment rails, like Pix in Brazil, for financial institution clients.