EMEA Daily: BLIK Goes International With VIAMO Acquisition; Zuora to Acquire Zephr for $44M to Expand Subscription Solutions

Today in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, the company that operates Poland’s BLIK mobile payment solution is set to acquire the Slovakian FinTech VIAMO. Meanwhile, Zuora is expanding its subscription solutions with the purchase of U.K.-based Zephr.

Europe’s High Street Retailers Feel Loss of Chinese Luxury Shoppers

Since the start of the pandemic in 2020, European retailers have had to adjust their strategies to adapt to a lower volume of Chinese tourists.

In the 10 years before COVID, Chinese tourists were among the biggest spenders worldwide on luxury goods, accounting for one-third or €93 billion of global sales, the Financial Times reported today.

Chinese shoppers purchased most of their luxury goods abroad to reap the authenticity factor, shop tax-free using European rebates, and save on the overall base price, which is often less than in China.

These reasons helped make Chinese tourists the highest per-capita luxury spenders among all travelers, accounting for two-thirds of the luxury sales in Europe before COVID, the FT reported.

Beepo App Enables Secure, Decentralized B2B Payments, Messaging

Decentralized messaging app Beepo, which is currently in beta testing, has added a new feature that it said secures all chats with blockchain encryption.

With this feature, users can make B2B transactions, as well as B2C, with no third-party involvement, safely share funds with family members and clientele, access decentralized blockchain applications and browse online catalogs, according to a Thursday (Aug. 25) press release.

With the new feature, Beepo aims to prioritize the anonymity of users, give users complete control over their information, and prevent data breaches, censorship and the sale of users’ information to marketers, according to the release.

Zuora to Acquire Zephr for $44M to Expand Subscription Solutions

Subscription management platform provider Zuora yesterday announced plans to acquire the London-based subscription experience company Zephr for $44 million.

The acquisition will combine Zephr’s “identity management, intelligent trials, dynamic paywalls, entitlements management” and decision engine capabilities with Zuora’s billing, collect and revenue systems, Zephyr stated in a press release.

As Zephr has been a Zuora partner, its pre-integrated solution is already being used by joint customers, and it will immediately expand Zuora’s product suite, according to the release.

BLIK Goes International With VIAMO Acquisition

Polish Payment Standard (PSP), the operator of Poland’s popular mobile payment solution BLIK is set to acquire the Slovakian mobile transaction service provider VIAMO, marking an important international expansion for the Polish firm, BLIK stated on its website Thursday (Aug. 25).

The agreement for the purchase of VIAMO shares, which was signed in Warsaw on August 11, will enter into force once the approval of the central bank of Slovakia has been granted. The parties did not disclose the value of the transaction.

Bunq’s CapitalFlow Picks up  €10M for Green Financing

Few industries are untouched by global initiatives to achieve net zero carbon emissions. In Ireland, the government has set the target of becoming a net zero emissions economy by 2050. Yet financing the investments in clean energy and green technology isn’t always easy, especially for smaller businesses.

Earlier this month (Aug. 8), Ireland-based Capitalflow Group announced that it secured €10 million ($9.97 million) from the low-cost Energy Efficiency Loan Scheme (EELS) of the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI).

CapitalFlow is owned by the Amsterdam-based neobank Bunq. The SBCI EELS facility totals €150M in funds intended to be a catalyst for energy efficiency investments.

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