PayU is aNetherlands-basedpayment service provider to online merchants.[1][2] The company was founded in 2002,[3] and is headquartered inHoofddorp. It allows online businesses to accept and process payments through payment methods that can be integrated with web and mobile applications.[4][5] As of 2018, the service is available in 17 countries.[6] The firm is owned by theNaspers Group, which also owns a stake in one of its sister companies,Tencent.[7][8]
PayU is the result of multiplepayment gateways in various regions of the world that have been acquired and brought into the PayU group.[9][10][11] In 2014, allonline payment companies that were part ofNaspers started operating under the PayU brand.
In 2022, it fired about 150 employees, approximately 6% of its workforce.[12]
In 2023, PayU sold its global payments business, other than those in its core markets ofIndia,Southeast Asia andTurkey, to Rapyd for $610 million.[13]
In November 2006, PayU SA was established and the Polish firm Platnosci.pl was merged into the group. The company also has a partnership withIwoca to make financing for SME firms easier.[31] In 2010, the company expanded to the Czech Republic. In 2011, the company expanded to Romania. In 2012, it began its operations inRussia,Ukraine,Turkey,Slovakia andHungary.[32]
In 2002, Pagosonline was founded inColombia by Jose Velez, Martin Schrimpff and Santiago Spinel.[citation needed]
In 2010, PagosOnline sold a majority stake toBuscapé, which was a part of the Naspers Group.[33] In 2011, Naspers acquired the majority stake in DineroMail.[34] In 2013, Naspers acquired the rest of the shares of DineroMail.[35] In 2012, Naspers acquired Pagosonline, replacing the former two with a new payment platform that eventually was rebranded PayU Latam, which begun operations in Panama and Peru.[36] During the course of 2013 and 2014, PayU Latam and DineroMail merged.[37][38] In 2016, Bcash and PayU, were merged under the PayU brand inBrazil.[39]
PayJar was founded in South Africa in 2010 as part of the Naspers group to help other Naspers companies process online payments. In 2011, PayJar was rebranded to PayU.[40] In 2015, PayU expanded its operations toNigeria.[41][42]
In 2011,Ibibo in conjunction with co-founders Nitin Gupta and Shailaz Nag, rolled out a payment gateway,PayU, in the Indian market to permit websites to integrate e-commerce transactions through online payments.[43][44]
PayU is a regulatedfinancial institution. It holds licenses fromcentral banks and local regulators. PayU's products include a PCI-DSS certified payment gateway,[45][46] an anti-fraud system and an online Visa/MasterCard acquirer.[47][48][49]
