SumUp is one of UK's leading financial technology companies, with its headquarters located in London. The company was founded in 2012 and has since then expanded operations across the globe. It has presence in most of the major European nations, United States and Brazil. Products and services offered by SumUp are playing a crucial role in helping small merchants and businesses benefit from the digital banking ecosystem.
It has helped reduce the need for cash, which is often a chaotic thing to manage in comparison to digital transactions. While it has expanded rapidly over the last 10 years, the leadership team at SumUp believes that there is a much larger market to be covered at the global level. The company has plans to keep expanding its global footprint and register strong growth over the next decade.
History
The idea for SumUp came to the founders when they noticed the lack of digital payment options for small merchants and businesses. Individuals running small operations on streets like food carts, flower stalls or those with shops such as barbers, small eateries, etc. had limited options for accepting digital payments. And the fewer options that were available were too costly for such small merchants and businesses.
As a solution, the founders started working on a tech-based solution that would provide digital payment options at an affordable rate to small merchants and businesses. SumUp was launched subsequently. Its primary product is a EMV card reader that can accept various cards such as chip-based cards, magnetic strip cards and NFC/RFID payments cards. Other product offerings include solo card reader, plus card reader and Point of Sales (PoS) machines. SumUp is looking to expand operations to cover other related financial services in the future.
Funding
SumUp has received investments worth $2 billion via 12 rounds of funding. Some of the key investors include Bain Capital Tech Opportunities, Goldman Sachs, Bain Capital Credit, GS Growth, BBVA Ventures, Groupon and Venture Incubator, LLC. In the last funding round in July 2022, SumUp received investment worth €590 million. Its valuation touched €8 billion, thereby achieving the coveted Unicorn tag.
Acquisitions
SumUp has acquired a number of companies over the years to augment its product and service offerings. The list of acquisitions includes payleven, Shoplo, The Good Till Co, Paysolut, Tiller Systems and Fivestars.
Competitors
SumUp competes with rivals such as SquareUp, Lightspeed Commerce, Shopify POS, Heartland Retail, QuickBooks Desktop Point of Sale and LS Retail.
About the Founders
SumUp was founded by Daniel Klein, Marc-Alexander Christ, Stefan Jeschonnek and Dr. Jan Deepen. Daniel Klein currently serves as the CEO at SumUp. Earlier also, he had been CEO of Pure Ventures. Co-founder Marc-Alexander Christ had earlier worked at Miosato, Groupon, JP Morgan Chase and European Investors Inc.
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