The Israeli clearing technology company Finaro of serial entrepreneur Yigal Rotem merges with Shift4. Shift Four is an American fintech company that is traded on the New York Stock Exchange at a value of $ 4.3 billion and is owned by the American-Jewish pilot Jared Isaacman. The merger deal includes a combination of a $ 218 million cash component and more Shift $ 356 million shares, plus a few tens of millions of additional dollars that may come as part of a milestone standstill.
Pinro (formerly Cardorex) was founded 13 years ago by Rotem and Benjamin Nachman, but actually started operating about a decade ago after receiving a bank license from the European Union. Back when it was called Cardorex, it was established with the vision to reduce the cancellation rate of e-commerce transactions and allow clearing banks – usually large European or American banks – to cancel fewer transactions made between large e-commerce sites and customers in remote countries.
Today, it is considered one of the most prominent e-commerce technology providers in Europe, and serves as both a clearing broker and a gateway under a special license it has received from Visa and MasterCard. In addition to clearing, it provides other fintech services such as cross-border risk management, foreign exchange management, digital wallets and crypto and business intelligence tools. At the same time, the company has a very European fingerprint: its bank license is European and it operates a business in Malta, and a development center in Herzliya.
Shift Four will be able to expand outside the US
Shift Four, like Pinro, is a clearing technology provider, but one that is active within the US borders and mainly serves the hospitality and catering sector. Its customers include hotel chains like Hilton, and fast food chains like KFC. The merger with Pinro will allow it to cross North American borders. The global market, as well as expanding beyond the world of clearing at local points of sale, towards the world of e-commerce.
The founder of Shift Four is the Jewish-American billionaire Jared Isaacson, a serial entrepreneur with a network of flight schools who is also considered a close friend of Alon Musk. Isaacson commanded the Inspiration Four (named after the company he runs) Flight X, which was launched from Florida last September and cruised 585 miles above the earth. He is also the star of the docu-countdown series on Netflix that tracks his character and follows the preparations for the flight.
The connection to space does not end with the identity of the exotic owner. Isaacson is expected to take Pinro’s technology into space, in a deal in which Shift is expected to provide clearing services for Musk’s ambitious satellite project, Starlink, which is supposed to orbit the Earth with 40,000 satellites and provide them with, so to speak, wireless Internet infrastructure. Yesterday Musk announced that Starlink is already available in Ukraine to back up the fighters and civilians in the event of a possible shutdown of the cellular communications network by the Russians.
Pinro has raised $ 150 million to date from the Blumberg, FTV and IVP funds, when in recent years it has not needed to raise external capital. It generates revenue of about $ 200 million a year, has a positive cash flow, and a positive EBITDA profit for several years.