PayPal buys TIO Networks for $233 million

PayPal has agreed to buy bill payment management company TIO Networks for $233 million in cash. The deal will allow PayPal to gain access to a market of customers who pay their utility and cable bills at kiosks in locations like Rite Aid.

This will help the company reach the “underserved” chunk of North Americans who are living paycheck-to-paycheck, some who even lack bank accounts. “There’s a chance to create a bridge for those users into the digital world,” Bill Ready, PayPal COO told TechCrunch. 

While they were unable to offer specifics on integration plans, the idea of bringing cash transactions to PayPal digital accounts is a concept that the company has been working on. The team has been developing PayPal Cash which makes it easier to convert your cash into online payments.

TIO processed about $7 billion in bill payments last year for its 14 million customers, throughout its 65,000 retail locations. Their mission is to make it more convenient and affordable for customers to pay bills.

The Vancouver-based company went public on the Toronto Stock Exchange in the dot-com boom and was trading about 25% beneath the acquisition price in recent months. PayPal ultimately offered about $2.56 per share, with the deal expected to close later this year.

The internet payments giant has extended far beyond its name-bearing PayPal online checkout business. It owns peer-to-peer money transfer app Venmo and also acquired Braintree, which makes money by processing app payments for companies like Uber and Airbnb.

PayPal spun off from eBay in 2015 and is presently the larger of the two companies, with a market cap of $51 billion. Shares are up over 21% in the past year.