BBVA's ongoing strategy to buy out promising fintech startups has moved ahead with the acquisition of Mexican B2B payments platform Openpay.
Currently, Openpay has a network of more than 15,000 payment reception points in Mexico, connected in real time through its Paynet network, and manages more than one million transactions a month. The Openpay platform is used by more than 1000 businesses in Mexico, from startups to SMEs and large corporate clients.
The company was a finalist in BBVA's Open Talent competition in 2015, after a screening process that involved almost 200 experts and 652 projects from 63 countries.
With BBVA's backing, the company has set its sights on tripling the number of transactions currently processed to more than three million by the end of the year.
Teppo Paavola, general manager for new digital business at BBVA, says: “Openpay is one of the principal innovators in Latin America in payments. Its development platform transforms the manner in which companies can do business online. By leveraging the synergies between Openpay and BBVA Bancomer, we hope to contribute to the growth of electronic commerce."
Acquisitions and investments play a key role in BBVA’s digital strategy. OpenWay will join other recent acquisitions in the bank's startup portfolio, which includes Finland's Holvi, UX design company Spring Studio's, big data firm Madiva Solucotion and neo-bank Simple.