The deal will allow the fund to expand its presence in the local financial services market. The amount of the deal is not disclosed.   NETOPIA currently provides services to more than 25,000 merchants, mostly in the SME sector, and is responsible for processing 25% of the country’s online card transactions. NETOPIA also operates MobilPay Wallet – Romania’s first multifunctional digital wallet, which facilitates payments at thousands of online and offline locations. In addition, the company is a specialist in SMS payment services, a popular way of settling online micro-transactions.    The NETOPIA Group deal, which is subject to approvals from the relevant authorities, is the first transaction by the Innova/7 fund, which held its first close in August 2022 at over EUR220 million.   The company reported transactions worth a total of over EUR350 million in the first three months of 2023, through all payment methods available – mobil, desktop and computer tablet, with online payments seeing an increase of 30% compared to the first three months of 2022.

“The Netopia Group has consistently demonstrated its commitment to innovation through payment solutions adapted to the online environment and SMS messaging solutions for digital marketing. With the help of the Innova Capital team, we want to accelerate the launch of new innovative solutions in such a dynamic industry as the online payments industry. This strategic move will strengthen Netopia Group’s position as a leader in the local market, offering unprecedented products and services. We are excited about the prospects of this partnership and we are glad to have reached this point,” said Antonio Eram, co-founder and CEO of Netopia Group.

“We analyze with great interest the dynamic developments of the local economy, especially the extraordinary growth potential of digital services. We are delighted to be able to make an investment in one of the most respected leaders among providers of modern payment solutions in the second largest market in Central and Eastern Europe. We want to capitalize on all our experience accumulated so far in the financial services industry to support NETOPIA’s growth and to further strengthen its position on the Romanian payment solutions market,” said Krzysztof Kulig, Senior Partner at Innova Capital.

Innova Capital is one of the most active players in the Romanian private equity market, being present locally since the end of the 1990s. Its portfolio currently includes Optical Investment Group (retail and optical distribution) and PayPoint (financial services) after having sold Energobit (energy sector) in 2022.

The transaction will be completed after obtaining the approvals from the relevant authorities. 

Law firm RTPR has advised private equity fund Innova Capital on the acquisition of a majority stake in Netopia Group. The RTPR team was coordinated by Alina Stavaru (Partner), who was assisted by Ana Maria Barbu (Senior Associate) on the documents of the transaction. It also included Cezara Urzica, Andrei Tosa (Managing Associates), Flavia Mincu, Filip Marinau, Maria Luca and Irina Marinescu (Junior Associates) for the due diligence process. Roxana Ionescu (Partner) and Serban Halmagean (Associate) will advise on notifying the transaction to the Competition Council.

Subiecte #Innova Capital#NETOPIA