Keeping in line with a 2019 that saw significant consolidations and acquisitions throughout the fintech space, the\u00a0new year has just started and global brand PayPal is already three collaborations in.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The payments giant has completed its acquisition of Honey Science Corporation, along with a partnership with ecommerce platform MercadoLibre and the acquisition of 70% share in China\u2019s GoPay. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
PayPal completed its <\/strong>acquisition<\/strong> of Honey Science Corporation<\/strong> \u2013 an L.A.-based tech company specializing in enhancing the online shopping experience \u2013 on January 6. The $4 billion deal marks PayPal\u2019s largest acquisition to date, according to TechCrunch<\/a>, and it will move the brand beyond the checkout page into the actual shopping experience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat\u2019s exciting is that we can take the functionality Honey now offers \u2014 which is product discovery, price tracking, offers and loyalty \u2014 and build that into the PayPal and Venmo experiences,\u201d explains PayPal SVP of Global Consumer Products and Technology, and former Xoom CEO, John Kunze in the same TechCrunch article. \u201cWhen Honey says they\u2019re putting money in the pockets of their customers \u2014 that\u2019s perfectly in line with what we want to do. We want to make digital commerce and financial services more affordable, easier to use, more fun and more accessible to people around the world,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the 2020 momentum started with China-based GoPay<\/strong>. A significant move for PayPal, the acquisition of GoPay marked its official entrance into China\u2019s payments market. It also makes the brand the first<\/a> foreign platform with a license to provide online payments in China\u2019s ecosystem and only the second (behind American Express) to achieve success there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n “We’re pleased to complete this historic transaction, which enables us to broaden our participation in such a dynamic market,” said Dan Schulman, president and CEO, PayPal in the press release. “This important step will allow us to be a stronger partner to Chinese financial institutions and technology platforms. We look forward to contributing to the growth of China’s e-commerce and payments ecosystem.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n