Digital bank Zopa bulks up with AI payments platform
Online bank Zopa is seeking to boost its growth by buying an artificial intelligence-powered payments platform. It is buying Rvvup for an undisclosed sum and said that acquiring the payments group, which was founded in 2020, would significantly increase the scope of its retail finance services.
Rvvup seeks to simplify the payments process for businesses by allowing its users to manage all their transactions — including those originated online, over the phone and in person — through a single system.
It uses AI agents to help its customers handle payments and has clients including Tile Giant, Fireaway Pizza and Oxley’s, the luxury furniture retailer that has used Rvvup’s technology at the Chelsea Flower Show.
The acquisition is Zopa’s second. In 2023 it bought DivideBuy, a buy now, pay later business. Tim Waterman, chief commercial officer at Zopa, said Rvvup “will further strengthen our payments and point-of-sale capabilities”.
It cements Zopa’s ambition to take on Britain’s big banks. Founded in 2005 as a peer-to-peer lender, Zopa secured a full banking licence from City regulators in 2020. It has 1.5 million customers and in June unveiled its first current account product. A deal to raise £68 million late last year made it a “unicorn” — a firm worth at least $1 billion.
Zopa’s management, led by Jaidev Janardana, 46, its chief executive, has long signalled that its goal is to list the bank on the stock market, with London seen as its first choice.
Rvvup was set up by David Nunn, its chief executive, during the Covid lockdowns while he was helping his father and son make payments online
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