Stockholm-based payments startup Trustly acquires Paris-based recurring payments startup SlimPay, sources say for €70M; Trustly shelved its IPO plans in 2021
Context & Ripple Effects
Trustly had previously raised capital at a reported valuation above $1B in its 2020 funding round, establishing a base for expansion beyond organic growth.
With its IPO plans shelved in 2021, the reported SlimPay purchase puts a strategic acquisition alongside the later prospect that fintech listings, including Trustly’s, could revive after a prolonged IPO slowdown.
First-order effects
- Trustly would add SlimPay’s recurring-payments business for a reported €70M, bringing the Paris-based company under its ownership.
- SlimPay’s customers and operations would face integration into Trustly rather than an independent product roadmap.
Second-order effects
- The deal could make Trustly a broader payments supplier for merchants that need both bank-transfer acceptance and recurring-payment workflows, raising the competitive bar for narrower providers.
- For Trustly, deploying capital into an acquisition creates a different near-term route to scale than returning directly to the public markets.
Third-order effects
- If similar transactions continue, European payments firms may increasingly use acquisitions to assemble complementary payment capabilities before pursuing liquidity events.
- That would shift competition toward platform breadth and integration execution, though one reported deal alone does not establish a durable consolidation cycle.
The trend: European fintechs are using strategic acquisitions to build broader payment platforms while IPO timing remains uncertain.