Netherlands-based CM.com, a cloud software for conversational commerce, has reached an agreement to acquire Amsterdam-based PayPlaza, a point of sale (POS) payment acceptance platform. According to CM.com, the transaction comprises a consideration of €10M (excluding a capped earn-out). Upon closing, the acquisition will be immediately accretive to EBITDA.
Conversational commerce is e-commerce done via various means of conversation and using technology such as speech recognition, speaker recognition, natural language processing, and artificial intelligence.
Aim of the acquisition
According to CM.com, this acquisition forms a next step for it to offer omnichannel communications and payments solutions from one single platform.
With this development, CM.com plans to merge its payments solutions with PayPlaza’s technology, thereby offering its existing and new customers quick access to additional payment options from one single platform.
“The anticipated growth of unattended POS terminals for self-checkout and the increasing demand for mobile payment solutions in the delivery, retail, and hospitality market provides ample growth opportunities,” it mentions in the press release.
Jeroen van Glabbeek, CEO of CM.com, says, “We see an increased demand for integrated online and mobile payment and physical in-store solutions, like mobile pin terminals. With PayPlaza we strengthen and further enrich the payments proposition on our conversational commerce platform.”
What does PayPlaza offer?
Founded in 2010 by Edgar Antonio Plasa, PayPlaza connects partners to its POS Gateway, POS, and mobile-POS terminal devices and serves large retailers such as Zeeman, and Dutch government departments such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The company employs about 50 people across offices in the Netherlands, Germany, and Spain, and has around 20,000 payment terminals connected to its platform. It runs a high margin and profitable business with currently €4M in annual recurring revenues, which are primarily license-fee based.
Edgar Plasa, CEO of PayPlaza comments, “We operate a payments processing platform that also includes a physical instore solution that facilitates purchases, can scan items, and serves as a complete mobile cash register. In the Netherlands, we have grown rapidly in recent years. Being part of CM.com enables us to accelerate our expansion across Europe.”
The founder of PayPlaza will stay on and is fully committed to executing the growth strategy.
Last year, in November, PayPlaza unveiled a new corporate identity – new brand design, website, and logo.
About CM.com
Founded in 1999 by Jeroen van Glabbeek and Gilbert Gooijer, CM.com connects businesses to people and people to businesses via telecom operators, worldwide payment providers, and messaging channels. It is a listed company (Euronext Amsterdam: CMCOM) and provides conversational commerce services from its cloud platform.
The company provides messaging and voice channels such as SMS, Over The Top (OTT) (e.g. WhatsApp Business, Apple Business Chat, Google RCS, Facebook Messenger, and Viber), Voice API, and SIP. These messaging channels can be combined with cloud platform features, like Ticketing, eSignature, Customer Contact, identity services, and a Customer Data Platform.
CM.com is a licensed Payment Service Provider (PSP) offering card payments, domestic payment methods, and integrated payment methods like WeChat Pay. The company currently employs about 550 people in 20 different countries worldwide.