Payoneer To Become Publicly Traded Company In $3.3B Merger

Israeli-founded online payments startup Payoneer announced last week it has signed a deal to become a publicly traded company by merging with FTAC Olympus Acquisition Corp., a SPAC (special purpose acquisition company) backed by banking entrepreneur Betsy Cohen.

The deal is expected to have an implied estimated value of about $3.3 billion.

As part of the agreement, Payoneer will receive $300 million from investors that include Wellington Management, Dragoneer Investment Group, Fidelity Management & Research Company and Franklin Templeton.

As part of the deal with FTAC Olympus Acquisition Corp, Payoneer will receive $300 million from investors including Wellington Management, Dragoneer Investment Group, Viola Ventures, Fidelity Management & Research Company, and Franklin Templeton.

Founded in 2005, Payoneer specializes in a cross-border payments platform that gives businesses access to new economic opportunities by enabling them to transact globally. The company currently has over four million customers. Payoneer has leveraged robust technology, compliance, operations, and banking infrastructure to create a digital platform that streamlines global commerce for millions of small businesses, marketplaces, and enterprises from 200 countries and territories.

“Technology is transforming commerce globally, bringing down borders and making it possible for entrepreneurs from all over the world to build a digital business,” said Scott Galit, the Payoneer CEO.  “This new way of doing business requires a global financial platform built for the digital age.  Payoneer’s purpose-built platform provides global connectivity with localized capabilities, layered on top of a robust and scalable compliance, risk and regulatory infrastructure. 

FTAC Olympus, a company that raises funds through an initial public offering to take another company public through a merger, raised $750 million in its IPO last year.

“Payoneer is at the forefront of the rapid, global shift to digital commerce across all sectors,” said Cohen, chairman of the Board of Directors of FTAC Olympus Acquisition Corp., “Its innovative and unique high-tech, high-touch platform positions Payoneer at the epicenter of some of the most powerful and enduring trends driving global commerce today.  Its proven ability to facilitate the overall growth of e-commerce through capabilities such as B2B payment digitization, global risk and compliance infrastructure, and the enablement for SMBs to rapidly grow and scale sets Payoneer apart.”