Unsuccessful Investment in German PSP Unzer
Image Credit: Unzer.com Introduction For the better part of two decades, from c. 1995 to 2015, private equity investments into merchant payments were practically failproof. Deal after deal delivered solid, if not exceptional returns buoyed by strong fundamental electronic payment growth tailwinds, and a business model with naturally strong scale economies. By the late 2010’s […]
GTCR Acquires a Majority Stake in Worldpay from FIS at Substantially Reduced Valuation
Please do not hesitate to contact Joel Van Arsdale Joel@FlagshipAP.com or Rom Mascetti Rom@FlagshipAP.com with comments or questions.
Infographic: Wise FY 2023 Performance Assessment
General Commentary & Highlights: Wise’s stock price surged c.20% to £641.40 on 28th June, fueled by its FY23 results that included surprisingly high growth. Wise stock is up more than 100% since its all-time low one year ago The customer base grew 34% YoY (66% of which joined through word-of-mouth), while volume grew at 37%; […]
Infographic: Paypal Q1 2023 and FY 2022 Performance Assessment
Image and Logo Credits: FreePik, PayPal General Commentary & Highlights PayPal lost ~$155 B in market cap with ~70% decline in share price since Jan ’22 Share price hit a 6-year low on 12 May this year Pace of M&A clearly slowing with potential for divestitures (i.e., Xoom sale being explored) GAAP EPS recorded a […]
India: Case Study on the Power of Fintech Innovation
The Indian payments landscape completely transformed over the last decade, catalyzed by a shift from cash, cards, and other traditional payment methods to real-time A2A payments, powered by the UPI network and mobile apps. This globally-relevant case study on fintech innovation and disruption was fueled by a crescendo of forces including government policies, banking infrastructure […]
Executive Interview Series: Roshan Sadanani, Product Manager, Stripe Terminal
Flagship Advisory Partners’ Executive Interview Series provides readers with exclusive insights from thought leaders in the payments and fintech industry.
High-Growth Fintechs Must Now Learn Efficiency
For the last decade, particularly during the pandemic, fintech was synonymous with high growth, oftentimes assigned unobtainable topline growth expectations. In 2022, expectations came crashing back to reality. Gone are false expectations for limitless growth, in are ‘boring’ expectations for profit. We recently examined a sample of 50 publicly listed fintech companies, comparing topline growth […]
Digital Wallets Thriving, Proliferating in All Directions
Not long ago pundits in Western markets questioned the prospects of digital wallets; though admittedly, wallets in Western markets had many false starts (MCX/CurrentC, Isis/Softcard, V.me, Google Wallet, and numerous other failed telco, merchant, or bank coalitions). There is no longer any basis to question the massive influence and potential of digital wallets, which we […]
Infographic: Fiserv 2022 Results – Solid Growth, Profitability, and Merchant Performance
General Observations FIS recently announced plans to divest Worldpay. In contrast, Fiserv’s acquisition of First Data appears to be performing well based on our review of Fiserv’s 2022 results: Fiserv 2022 Performance Highlights Solid topline and bottom line (EBITDA) growth performance in 2022. Performance outshined FIS, but was matched (slightly exceeded) by peer Global Payments. […]
Peeling Back the Onion of Embedded Finance
Fintech is full of acronyms and catch phrases, none more used and yet more confusing than ‘embedded finance’. Everyone seems to have a different definition and understanding of embedded finance. To some, it is something specific, to others, it effectively encompasses all fintech. We can all agree, however, that fintechs that master embedded finance as […]