ePassi, a leading mobile payment solution for subsidised employee benefits and one of the fastest growing companies in Europe, is boosting its strategic plan via a growth investment from Bregal Milestone, a pan European private capital firm, and Risto Siilasmaa’s investment firm First Fellow Partners.
Bregal Milestone and First Fellow Partners are together investing EUR 41.5 million in ePassi via a fully equity funded transaction. The investment by Bregal Milestone is the fifth out of the EUR 400 million fund and marks the second transaction in Finland, and also its second Fintech investment this year.
ePassi’s founder, Risto Virkkala, will continue to hold a significant stake in the business and continue to be Chairman of the Board of Directors. Bregal Milestone will take an active role in the Board, and Risto Siilasmaa will act as an advisor to the Board. Pekka Rantala, the newly appointed ePassi CEO, will also co-invest in the transaction. Rantala has years’ experience from executive roles in international context. Before joining ePassi, Rantala acted as the VP, CMO of HMD Global and before that as the CEO of Rovio Entertainment.
“With value-added partners like Bregal Milestone and First Fellow Partners, ePassi is well equipped for our next development phase. Our ambition is to continue to lead innovation in our industry for the benefit of our customers, their employees and our merchant partners,” says Risto Virkkala, ePassi founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors.
ePassi has a proven track record of expansion in corporate benefit and mobile wallet solutions and has recently signed a number of significant cooperation agreements with major international players, including Alipay and WeChat.
“Bregal Milestone and First Fellow Partners’ investment will help ePassi to grow further, and to utilise opportunities like the new and expanded EU payments services directive for mobile payments. The investment will allow us to continue to provide an outstanding service to our customers and partners through enhanced R&D, product development and innovation leadership, and this in turn will help us to attract further international interest,” says Pekka Rantala, CEO of ePassi.“
“We are proud to partner with Risto Virkkala who pioneered a truly differentiated business model with a customer-centric and technology-driven approach. We look forward to actively supporting ePassi’s team to deliver on its exciting innovation roadmap,” says Matteo Bozzo, Director at Bregal Milestone.
The transaction is expected to complete during Q4 2019 and is subject to approval by regulatory authorities.
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