Visa Acquires Fraedom For $195M To Expand B2B Payments

Visa said Friday that it has acquired Fraedom, which provides — via software as a service —  expense management solutions for financial institutions and business.

The two firms have been in partnership for nearly a decade, Visa said in a release.

Fraedom’s technology underpins the Visa IntelliLink Spend management platform that is focused on the payments giant’s commercial and small business clients.

Financial terms were not disclosed, and the deal is slated to close during the current quarter.

Visa said that the acquisition will “strengthen and expand Visa’s business suite of solutions to meet the rapidly evolving needs” of the B2B payments industry.

In a statement, Vicky Bindra, global head of products and solutions at Visa, said that “increasingly, businesses are replacing inefficient paper-based payment systems with digital tools.  This strategic acquisition allows Visa to offer a more comprehensive business solution to our corporate clients that is innovative, global, highly configurable and intuitive for their employees.”

As part of those offerings,  Fraedom offers transaction management services, including expense management and accounts payable solutions, with what it has termed a focus on “mobile first experiences.”  The company has managed more than one billion transactions through its web based platform, equating to $270 billion to date since its 1999 launch, across more than 170,000 organizations.

Headquartered in New Zealand, Fraedom is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Hogg Robinson Group, based in London.

A Visa spokeswoman told PYMNTS Friday that upon the deal’s closing, Fraedom will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Visa and their CEO Kyle Ferguson will report to Kevin Phalen, global head of commercial solutions Visa.