New deals with Finaro and The Giving Block pave the way for global expansion, cryptocurrency enablement, and additional opportunities in the nonprofit sector
ALLENTOWN, Pa. — March 1, 2022 — Shift4 (NYSE: FOUR), a leading provider of integrated payment and technology solutions, today announced that it will acquire both Finaro, a cross-border eCommerce payments provider with a large European presence, and The Giving Block, which specializes in cryptocurrency fundraising for nonprofits. These acquisitions support Shift4’s ambitious goals and better position the company to pursue a multi-trillion-dollar addressable market across the world, including accelerating growth in eCommerce, gaming, stadiums, restaurants, hospitality, specialty retail, charitable giving, and a new capability with cryptocurrency enablement.
“These two acquisitions build on the momentum from our recent investor day and underscore our aggressive efforts to deliver a unified commerce experience across the world. These deals clearly show our ability to support existing transformational and global customers like SpaceX Starlink & St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and provide a real right-to-win additional customers across the nonprofit vertical. It also represents an exciting and responsible step towards further embracing cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology,” said Shift4 CEO Jared Isaacman.
Finaro will provide the global infrastructure and cutting-edge technology needed to drive Shift4’s international ambitions to deliver a unified commerce experience. By integrating Finaro’s capabilities, Shift4 will be able to expand the company’s current services around the world, including its next-generation SkyTab POS solution, Shift4Shop eCommerce platform, and VenueNext stadium offering. Shift4 also has more than 425 software integrations and over 200,000 merchant customers, many of which have a multinational presence and provide immediate international opportunities that can now be unlocked as a result of this acquisition.
The Giving Block operates the leading crypto donation marketplace connecting cryptocurrency donors with over 1,300 nonprofit organizations. It is a fast growing and highly profitable business filling a vital need for nonprofits, with cryptocurrency donations, including Bitcoin and Ethereum, representing the #1 trend in philanthropic giving for 2022.
Shift4 will invest further in The Giving Block’s successful strategy while also pursuing a $45+ billion embedded cross-sell opportunity by bundling crypto donation capabilities with traditional card acceptance. This represents just a small portion of the $470+ billion nonprofit addressable market that Shift4 will uniquely be able to pursue as a result of this acquisition. This acquisition also brings a team of cryptocurrency & blockchain technical talent who will establish a Crypto Innovation Center at Shift4 and integrate crypto acceptance and settlement capabilities across Shift4’s current offerings in a wide range of verticals.
“Cryptocurrency is quickly moving beyond early adoption and becoming increasingly mainstream as more people want to invest, transact and donate in crypto,” stated Isaacman. “We intend to be at the forefront of this movement and leverage The Giving Block technology across the entire Shift4 enterprise.”
These two acquisitions are expected to contribute over $15B of end-to-end payment volume and $35M of adjusted EBITDA in 2023.
For additional information on these acquisitions, please visit the Presentations section of Shift4’s Investor Relations website here.
Citi is serving as exclusive financial advisor to Shift4 on its acquisition of Finaro and The Giving Block.
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Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements contained in this press release that do not relate to matters of historical fact should be considered forward-looking statements, including statements regarding Shift4 Payments, Inc.’s (“our”, the “Company” or “Shift4”) expectations regarding new customers, acquisitions and other transactions, including our proposed acquisitions of Finaro and The Giving Block, our ability to consummate the acquisitions on the timelines we expect or at all, our ability to successfully integrate the Finaro and The Giving Block businesses into our business, our ability to realize the anticipated benefits of the acquisitions of Finaro and The Giving Block on the timelines we expect or at all; our goal to service SpaceX/Starlink’s subscribers; our plans and agreements regarding future payment processing commitments; our expectations with respect to economic recovery and the market for our business; anticipated financial performance and growth of our business, including the expansion of our current services; our future investment plans; and our plans with respect to cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. These statements are neither promises nor guarantees, but involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any futures results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, the following: the effect of the COVID-19 global pandemic and any variants of the virus on our business and results of operations; our ability to differentiate ourselves from our competitors and compete effectively; our ability to anticipate and respond to changing industry trends and merchant and consumer needs; our ability to continue making acquisitions of businesses or assets; our ability to continue to expand our market share or expand into new markets; our reliance on third party vendors to provide products and services; our ability to integrate our services and products with operating systems, devices, software and web browsers; our ability to maintain merchant and software partner relationships and strategic partnerships; the effects of global economic, political and other conditions or events, including due to the effects on consumer, business and government spending; our compliance with governmental regulation and other legal obligations, particularly related to privacy, data protection and information security and consumer protection laws; our ability to establish, maintain and enforce effective risk management policies and procedures; our ability to protect our systems and data from continually evolving cybersecurity risks, security breaches and other technological risks; potential harm caused by software defects, computer viruses and development delays; the effect of degradation of the quality of the products and services we offer; potential harm caused by increased customer attrition; potential harm caused by fraud by merchants or others; potential harm caused by damage to our reputation or brands; our ability to recruit, retain and develop qualified personnel; our reliance on a single or limited number of suppliers; the effects of seasonality and volatility on our operating results; the effect of various legal proceedings; our ability to raise additional capital to fund our operations; our ability to protect, enforce and defend our intellectual property rights; our ability to establish and maintain effective internal control over financial reporting and disclosure controls and procedures; our compliance with laws, regulations and enforcement activities that affect our industry; our dependence on distributions from Shift 4 Payments, LLC to pay our taxes and expenses, including payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement; and the significant influence our founder and Rook Holdings Inc. have over us, including control over decisions that require the approval of stockholders These and other important factors are described in “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking statements,” and “Risk Factors” in Part I, Item 1A in our Annual Report on Form 10 K for the year ended December 31, 2021 and our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by the forward-looking statements made in this press release Any such forward-looking statements represent management’s estimates as of the date of this press release. While we may elect to update such forward-looking statements at some point in the future, we disclaim any obligation to do so, even if subsequent events cause our views to change.
About Shift4
Shift4 (NYSE: FOUR) is boldly redefining commerce by simplifying complex payments ecosystems across the world. As the leader in commerce-enabling technology, Shift4 powers billions of transactions annually for hundreds of thousands of businesses in virtually every industry. For more information, visit shift4.com.
About Finaro
Finaro is a global cross-border payment provider empowering international commerce through brilliantly simple payments. Our passionate team, exceptional tech capabilities, product innovation, and customer-centric approach enables us to simplify complexity and create multidimensional solutions that generate growth and enable peace of mind for our merchants. To learn more, visit www.finaro.com.
About The Giving Block
The Giving Block makes Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency fundraising easy for nonprofits. Empowering mission-driven organizations, charities, universities, and faith-based organizations of all sizes to leverage crypto technology to achieve their mission. Discover why cryptocurrency is the fastest growing donation method for Millennial and Gen-Z donors, at TheGivingBlock.com.
Media Contacts
Shift4
Nate Hirshberg
Vice President, Marketing