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CashTech: Paysafe acquires Viafintech; Glory invests in OneBanks

Categories : Innovation contributes to the efficiency of cash
August 31, 2021
Tags : CashTech, Europe, Germany, Innovation, United Kingdom
Payments service provider Paysafe has announced the acquisition of leading CashTech company Viafintech. Meanwhile, former Viafintech shareholder Gory invests in shared bank branch startup, OneBanks. The transactions demonstrate growing investor interest in CashTech.
Guillaume Lepecq

Chair, CashEssentials

This post is also available in: Spanish

Paysafe Acquires Viafintech

Paysafe, a specialised payments platform, has signed an agreement to acquire a market-leading German CashTech company, Viafintech. Viafintech, known under the brands of Barzahlen/viacash and viacash, offers the largest bank independent cash withdrawal infrastructure in Europe, allowing a popular alternative to the traditional banking structure.  For Paysafe, this latest acquisition not only boosts its growth opportunities in Germany, a critical market for its international merchants, it also creates revenue-generating opportunities to cross-sell Viafintech’s alternative banking and payments solutions to its merchants around the world.

Paysafe’s core purpose is to enable businesses and consumers to connect and transact seamlessly through industry-leading capabilities in payment processing, digital wallets, eCash, and open banking solutions.  It offers over 70 payment types in over 40 currencies around the world.

Viafintech was founded in 2011 and integrates with digital banking apps to offer an innovative “mobile ATM” concept which enables consumers to make deposits or withdraw cash from their digital bank accounts at a nearby retail store using a barcode; something that is becoming increasingly popular in the region as bricks and mortar bank branches close and fast-growing challenger banks and digital wallets disrupt the market.  Viafintech solutions are also used widely for bill payments and credit payouts, and online shopping in general, supporting millions of consumers in the region who don’t have bank accounts or prefer the heightened security of using cash to pay online.

Headquartered in Germany, where it has a market-leading position, it also has a presence in five European countries with plans to expand further.  It operates via a 20,000-points-of-sale network with over 20 well-known retail partners and has deep relationships in the banking, bill payments, and eCommerce industries.

As part of the deal, the Viafintech team, including managing directors Sebastian Seifert, Achim Bönsch, and Andreas Veller, will become part of Paysafe’s expanding eCash and open banking solutions’ team, which is headed up by Paysafe eCash CEO, Udo Müller.

This latest acquisition builds on Paysafe’s recent Latin American acquisition agreements with PagoEfectivo and SafetyPay. It allows Paysafe to solidify its position as a global market leader for eCash and open banking solutions where multiple payments players are competing to gain a stronger foothold in the emerging open banking ecosystem and the provision of alternative payment methods (APMs).  On completion of the three acquisitions, the Paysafe eCash business will offer eCash and open banking solutions in over 60 countries with over one million distribution points.

Following the sale of their shares to Paysafe, Viafintech’s majority shareholder – Glory Ltd., a global leader in cash technology solutions – will enter into a new strategic partnership with Paysafe.   The two companies have signed a referral agreement that enables Glory to offer Paysafecard, one of Paysafe’s leading eCash solutions, as a form of payment within its in-store payments kiosks, and, in turn,, for Paysafe to offer Glory’s cash technology solutions to its merchants around the world.

Glory invests in OneBanks

Glory has also announced that it will become the cornerstone investor in OneBanks, the UK-based shared branch banking innovator, as part of a Series A funding round supporting OneBanks’ ambition to become a leading infrastructure player in the provision of everyday banking services. OneBanks has previously secured capital from ‘angel’ backers, including Rupert Pennant-Rea, former Bank of England deputy governor, and Baroness Bottomley, the former Conservative cabinet minister.

Upon completing the transaction, Glory will become the lead external investor with a significant minority of the enlarged capital. Glory’s commitment, together with additional funds being raised from existing investors, will underpin OneBanks’ ambitions to become a leading player in the delivery of everyday banking services, filling the gap being created in the UK market by the progressive withdrawal from the High Street of the mainstream banks. Following the completion of the current trial of its innovative shared branch kiosk formats in three locations this year, OneBanks intends to begin a full UK nationwide roll-out, expanding to 15 locations by the end of 2022 and 150 by 2025.

Using the recently introduced Open Banking standards, OneBanks has developed proprietary technology that enables multiple banks to offer services from a single physical location at a significantly lower cost than a traditional branch. Participating banks’ customers – both personal and small business – have free access to multiple transaction types, all supported by a OneBanks team member recruited from the local community.

This post is also available in: Spanish

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