You might not have heard of Braintree, but the company’s software powers the seamless payments built into a number of mobile apps. Now PayPal, a subsidiary of eBay has purchased Braintree in a clear bid to get a piece of the mobile payment pie.
Mobile payments are only going to become more prevalent in the future, and they’ve already caught on in a major way. With this acquisition, PayPal and Ebay have a position at the forefront of the next wave of payment technology.
Braintree introduced its mobile payment platform last year, and it’s in the guts of wildly popular mobile services such as Uber and Airbnb. Braintree enables the secure mobile payments from within a mobile application, you opt-in and enter your credit card information once you can be billed for your usage of whichever service through the app until your credit card changes or you remove the info.
PayPal, who once revolutionized web-based payments, was losing out. App developers understandably prefer the in-app payment structure that Braintree’s Credit Data Portability provides. PayPal found itself in danger of falling into relative obsolescence. With this $800 Million Acquisition, PayPal is right on the money.
PayPal President David Marcus’ statement about the acquisition follows below:
Why We’ve Agreed to Acquire Braintree
David Marcus, President, PayPalI came to PayPal and eBay Inc. in 2011 via the acquisition of Zong because it offered the best opportunity to achieve the goal I’ve been working toward for more than 15 years: to use the power of digital technology to transform the world of payments. I’ve always believed that if we can make transactions safer and easier, we’ll unlock value and convenience that we can only imagine today.
Over the past year and a half, we’ve worked hard at PayPal to put this idea into practice. We’re delivering beautiful products that make shopping faster, simpler, and more fun. We’re introducing innovative technologies that enable businesses to thrive in an increasingly mobile world. We’re providing tools to help developers create compelling new experiences that connect merchants with their customers in entirely new ways.
A lot of other companies claim they’re doing these things, too. But in the crowded payments space, most have a long way to go before they actually deliver useful solutions at the scale that’s required.
One company delivering these solutions today is Braintree. In a very short time, Braintree has built impressive mobile payment solutions that handle transactions in 130 currencies in more than 40 countries. Mobile developers love Braintree’s tools and the great hands-on service that they offer.
I admire Braintree because they were one of the very first companies to understand the power of real mobile-first experiences. I’m not talking about traditional e-commerce ported to your mobile device. I’m talking about groundbreaking experiences offered by companies like Airbnb, OpenTable, Uber, and TaskRabbit. Light, powerful, massively disruptive, and thoroughly delightful, they are all powered by Braintree.
Today’s news that we have agreed to acquire Braintree is a great move for both companies.
As a separate service offered by PayPal, Braintree will be able to scale its platform at a rate that is just not possible for a startup. PayPal’s already solved many of the regulatory and logistical hurdles that will help to extend Braintree’s reach to more customers in more markets even faster. Our resources will enable them to push the boundaries of innovation with ambition and confidence for consumers, merchants and developers around the world. It’s business as usual for Braintree. Braintree will continue to maintain its best-in-class service for its customers and developers for the foreseeable future.
And with the addition of Braintree, PayPal gets a lot more than a notable list of clients and an impressive technology portfolio. Today’s news means that Braintree’s team of brilliant engineers, innovative mobile strategists, and strong business leaders will soon be joining our ranks. Led by Bill Ready, they’ve built a company culture that emphasizes initiative, ownership, and passion for quality. Bill is an experienced entrepreneur and payment industry veteran who achieved great success at iPay Technologies and Netzee Payments before taking over as CEO of Braintree in 2011. I’m looking forward to having him join my executive team.
The real winners today are consumers, who can expect to soon enjoy easier, safer, faster, and more innovative ways to pay on more of their favorite apps and at their favorite businesses. Together, I believe PayPal and Braintree will enable merchants and developers to create new mobile experiences that are magical in ways that we can’t even begin to picture today.
Bill and I share a common vision of payments built around friction-free, mobile-first experiences and disruptive businesses that surprise and delight customers at every turn. By joining forces, we expect to realize this vision at unprecedented scale and unmatchable speed.
David
[Via: PayPal]