Nium acquires B2B travel payments company Ixaris
The Singapore based, non-bank payments company Nium has announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Ixaris which is a travel payments company.
According to the press note, with this acquisition, Nium would be able to execute its aim to provide API integration to access the world’s payments infrastructure. And through its platform, clients would be able to quickly deploy new financial services from card issuance to cross-border payments.
Earlier this year, American Express Global Business Travel had acquired Egencia while Mastercard and Amadeus expanded their partnership for virtual cards in travel.
Ixaris as a platform helps airlines and online travel agents to reduce surcharges, earn rebates, flatten FX fees, and streamline reconciliation. The company has issued more than 10 million virtual cards in 2019 and since its inception, the company has processed 24 million transactions for 200+ customers in 40+ countries for a total payment volume of £5 billion.
“Airlines and OTAs are actively transforming their technologies and processes in anticipation of a surge in global travel happening this year,” said Prajit Nanu, co-founder and CEO, Nium. “The travel industry has long been dependent on slow-moving, monolithic payment platforms”.
Financial Technology Partners (FT Partners) served as exclusive strategic and financial advisor to Nium on its acquisition of Ixaris. The transaction of the acquisition is expected to close in the third quarter of 2021 and it is subject to customary closing conditions.
Over six rounds of funding, Nium has raised over $80 million and the company’s last funding came in April 2021 at $21 million.