Report: SumUp Aims to Raise $1.1 Billion to Refinance Debt

SumUp is reportedly looking to raise 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) from private credit lenders.

The U.K. payments company would use the money to refinance existing debt, Bloomberg reported Friday (Feb. 23), citing unnamed sources. 

SumUp did not immediately reply to PYMNTS’ request for comment. 

The company’s offerings include point-of-sale (POS) card readers, cash advance through a partnership with VPC in the U.K., and Tap to Pay on iPhone for customers in the U.K., France and the Netherlands.

Friday’s report comes two months after SumUp raised $307 million to expand its footprint and develop new services. The company said at the time that it had operated on a positive EBITDA for a year and was maintaining more than 30% top-line growth. 

“This funding gives us additional firepower to pursue growth opportunities and accelerate products that empower small businesses,” SumUp Chief Financial Officer Hermione McKee said at the time.

In August 2023, SumUp raised a $100 million credit facility to launch a merchant financing solution, saying it aimed to provide a lifeline for companies to deal with emergencies or invest in their companies “at a time when businesses are contending with a cost-of-living crisis.” 

“Our cash advance product can support business growth in a transparent and fair manner, enabling merchants to continue doing what they do best, without having to worry about accessing funds,” SumUp Co-founder Marc-Alexander Christ said at the time. 

SumUp has found success in serving the micro-and-nano merchant segment, where in many cases those companies are run entirely by a sole proprietor, and has been adding POS hardware and issuing to complement its core card reading business, Christ told PYMNTS’ Karen Webster in an interview posted in May 2023.

“Merchants are realizing that there is much more technology out there that they can embrace to help them run their businesses,” Christ said. 

Christ added that SumUp covers 10% of the 28 million merchants in Europe and that the plastic card at the terminal opens the door for a host of other integrations that leverage the cloud to track inventory and launch loyalty offers tailored to consumers on a market-by-market basis.