Israeli startup Simplex, which offers fiat Payments infrastructure to crypto companies, is negotiating to be acquired by the Canadian payment processor, Nuvei, local media Calcalist reported on Thursday.
Though not officially confirmed, the two companies are already believed to be in advanced talks for the deal that could be closed for a sum between $200 million and $250 million.
Simplex was founded in 2014 by its CEO Nimrod Lehavi and two other former PayPal employees, Erez Shapira and Netanel Kabala, who are holding the position of Chief Technology Officer and Chief Analytics Officer, respectively.
The company offers fiat onramp and offramp services to cryptocurrency platforms, and some of its clients include big names like Binance, Bitpay, Paxos, Poloniex and many more. It has expanded its services aggressively and is helping companies to issue cryptocurrency credit and debit cards as well. In addition, it has become a principal member of Visa.
Last December, the startup launched Simplex Banking, a crypto banking solution that can be easily integrated into exchanges and wallet apps. Simplex is licensed under the European Union as a financial institution.
Though the valuation of the startup is not known, it raised $19 million over the years, mostly from several investors, according to Crunchbase.
Paving the Way to Enter the Crypto Industry
Meanwhile, Nuvei is a public company that closed its initial public offering (IPO) in September 2020 to be listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and now has a market cap of around $10 billion. Based in Montreal, the company is known for offering electronic payment processing services, and the acquisition of Simplex will open its gates to crypto companies.
In 2019, Nuvei completed the acquisition of SafeCharge in an all-cash deal, paying $899 million, which positioned the company as a global payments processor.
