" class="no-js "lang="en-US"> Equals Group Acquires Roqqett for £2.25 Million - Fintech Finance
Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Equals Group Acquires Roqqett for £2.25 Million

Equals Group PLC has acquired fintech start-up Roqqett for £2.25 million. The acquisition gives the company access to Roqqett’s open banking checkout, as well as its acquiring technology, consumer app, and AIS and PIS licences.

The acquisition of Roqqett is the latest step in Equals Group’s move to expand its fintech capabilities. A new open banking checkout will empower Equals Group’s customers to embed instant bank transfers at the point of purchase, offering them a cheaper and faster alternative to card payments. Thanks to the company’s connection to UK Faster Payments and SEPA Instant, customers will not only have to access open banking benefits, but will also receive payments directly within the same product.

Equals Group owns the whole payment journey, so Roqqett merchants can also quickly provide refunds to their customers, which is often a point of friction with open banking payments. Roqqett’s consumer app lets consumers link their bank accounts in advance to speed up the checkout process across Roqqett merchants.

Equals Group makes it simple for customers to move and collect money.. Now, many  customers will be able to deal with the Group directly and collect from their consumers right into their Equals account. Roqqett will be brought into the Equals family and be given access to the Group’s payment rails and its network of customers.

James Simcox, the Group’s chief product officer,commented: “Roqqett has been developing some innovative and leading tech that represents the future of payments, and I’m excited to pair their technology with the rest of our products. It feels like a natural partnership as we continue to develop and innovate our own payments ecosystem.”

Simon England, chief infrastructure officer at Equals, added: “Roqqett is an exciting addition to Equals Group’s capabilities and allows access to the full extent of the value chain. The platform’s infrastructure allows us to integrate using local open banking partners and provides access for Equals Group to offer these services globally with limited work required, offering a great solution for our international partners and customers.”

Commenting on the acquisition, Ian Strafford-Taylor, Equals Group’s chief executive, said: “We are delighted to announce the acquisition of Roqqett and its cutting edge open-banking payment platform and welcome Glenn Smith and his team to the Equals Group. Similar to the Equals Connect transaction announced in October, the transaction is made possible by the continued strong performance of the Group and our surplus cash balances.

“The platform, underlying technology, and licences that we are acquiring fit well with our stated strategy of providing payments solutions to our B2B customer base. The ability to provide our corporate customers with an alternative route to acquire payments from their B2B or B2C customers is the last piece of the jigsaw in terms of Equals Group’s participation in the full payment lifecycle. This acquisition allows us to fast-track this capability which, in turn, will widen the addressable markets for our services and ultimately drive growth.”

Glenn Smith, chief executive, Roqqett, said: “Roqqett has developed a unique checkout experience for the rapidly growing market in open banking payments.  This offering is enhanced with the addition of Equals Group’s capabilities in IBANs and its membership of the Faster Payments Scheme.  The team at Roqqett is looking forward to working with Equals Group to maximise the potential for both platforms arising from this acquisition.”

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