Equals Group, a fintech payments group outfit on the SME marketplace, is to acquire open banking platform Roqqett for a total consideration of up to £2.25 million.
Roqqet was established in November 2019 by Glenn Smith, who previously held senior roles with UBS and Barclays in FX derivatives followed by over a decade in technology start-ups.
The firm, is authorised by the FCA as both an AISP (Account Information Service Provider) and PISP (Payment Initiation Service Provider), two licences that Equals currently does not hold.
The acquisition will give Equals the ability to provide its SME clients with account-to-account payments for both B2B and B2C transactions as an alternative to debit cards, credit cards and traditional push payments.
Ian Strafford-Taylor, CEO of Equals - formerly known as FairFX - says: “The platform, underlying technology, and licences that we are acquiring fit well with our stated strategy of providing payments solutions to our B2B customer base. The ability to provide our corporate customers with an alternative route to acquire payments from their B2B or B2C customers is the last piece of the jigsaw in terms of Equals participation in the full payment lifecycle.
"This acquisition allows us to fast-track this capability which in turn will widen our addressable markets for our services and ultimately drive growth."
The deal will comprise an initial £1.0 million cash payment, followed by deferred payments of £0.25 million in cash and £1 million in a mxture of cash and sahres in Equals.
For the year ended 31 December 2021, Roqqett had a loss before tax of £0.57 million and had assets of £0.2 million.
Glenn Smith, CEO of Roqqett, says the Equals infrastructure will significantly enhance the Roqqett proposition on a stand-alone basis: “Roqqett has developed a unique checkout experience for the rapidly growing market in open banking payments. This offering is enhanced with the addition of Equal’s capabilities in Ibans and their membership of the Faster Payments Scheme."