Card giant American Express said it has agreed to purchase Nipendo, an Israeli business-to-business payments automation company, but didn’t say how much it will pay for the acquisition.

Nipendo, headquartered in Netanya, Israel, “will make B2B payments processes much easier for our customers,” an Amex spokesperson said by email. The business enables businesses to connect, communicate and automate processes such as accounts payable and receivable, Amex said in a news release about the deal Thursday.

The Amex spokesperson declined to comment on the purchase price. The transaction is expected to close this quarter, the release said.

New York-based Amex has been bolstering its B2B capabilities over the past year. The card company launched a digital payment tool in August 2022 that allows its small business card customers to make B2B payments internationally and domestically. In December, Amex officially debuted a B2B payments system it had been building and testing over the past year.

Amex noted Thursday in the release that the Nipendo acquisition is the card company’s latest strategic move in its pursuit of creating an end-to-end B2B platform. Amex aims to build out its suite of B2B capabilities for buyers and suppliers “through new product development, M&A and partnerships,” according to the release.

Businesses are increasingly shifting from paper-based payments to digital alternatives, partly with a push from the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, payments companies are angling to grab a share of that rising business demand. Earlier this week, another payments company, Nuvei, also said it would purchase a B2B services company.

“With Nipendo, we will strengthen our expertise and capabilities in the space, and their innovative platform will give business customers common ground to connect and transact on the Amex network,” Anna Marrs, Amex’s group president for global commercial services and credit and fraud risk, said in the release.

Last year, Amex partnered with accounts receivable companies Billtrust and Versapay. In 2019, it acquired another business, called acompay, that offers supplier payment services, the release said.

The spokesperson said Nipendo has “less than 100” employees, and said Amex will welcome “all of their talent into the company, and we will build out our offerings over time.”

Nipendo is “looking forward to serving as an important component of the new business value we can offer, by efficiently streamlining B2B payments,” said co-founder and CEO Eyal Rosenberg in the release.

By Caitlin Mullen on Jan 12, 2023
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