Xero's new acquisition will remain a standalone company. High up on its agenda will be expanding small business customers’ access to forms of lending beyond invoice finance

New Zealand-headquartered accounting software company Xero has acquired cloud-based Waddle for approximately $58 million.
Founded in Australia in 2014, Waddle’s lending platform service allows banks, fintechs and other lending partners to easily and quickly deliver invoice finance to small businesses that have elected to share their accounting data to enable a loan.
Waddle currently has agreements with banks and lenders in the UK and Australia, and Xero will look to expand these relationships with financial partners to support more small businesses.
Xero’s new acquisition will remain a standalone company. High up on its agenda will be expanding small business customers’ access to forms of lending beyond invoice finance.
Steve Vamos, chief executive officer of Xero, highlighted Waddle’s ability to provide flexible, ongoing lines of credit and automate many of the manual processes involved in invoice finance as key motivations for the acquisition.
The deal for Waddle will reportedly cost about $22 million up front, with a further $36 million due as and when product development and revenue milestones are reached.
Images: Xero, Waddle