Mobecom pays $6 million for platform that lets you pay your bills using crypto

Special report: Innovative customer engagement tech company Mobecom has acquired a majority shareholding in Lakeba Group subsidiary Paid By Coins, giving the company yet another offering to its customers.

Paid By Coins, which is a subsidiary of established technology development leader – Lakeba Group, has developed and owns the Paid By Coins Platform, a fully operational B2C solution for consumers to use their cryptocurrency to pay their bills or make direct payments to any Australian bank account.

Mobecom (ASX:MBM) will pay $6 million, including $3.8m upfront, for 80 per cent of the issued shares of Paid By Coins, with the option to acquire the remaining 20 per cent for between $1.00 and $14 million depending on the revenue of the platform.

Neil Joseph, Mobecom CEO, says there is great synergy between the platform and its existing products, particularly the Muulla and airBux platforms.

Of particular note is the airBux opportunity which as announced by ASX: MBM on the 20^th of June 2018 has expanded revenue opportunities to include transaction based fees from a network of 150,000 payment terminals and 50,000 merchants.

“Mobecom is delighted with securing this dynamic opportunity as this acquisition is in line with our growth strategy. It will help to rapidly advance the business in the digital currency space by providing liquidity for customers with hard to use value such as cryptocurrency,” he says.

“Partnering with Lakeba Group through the acquisition of the Paid By Coins payment gateway will help drive revenue growth and consolidate our position in the cryptocurrency and blockchain sphere and progress the adoption and implementation of emerging technology to help future-proof and drive greater business resilience for Mobecom to the benefit of Mobecom’s shareholders.”

Lakeba Group chief Giuseppe Porcelli says the growth of Paid By Coins, which has been profitable since day one, attracted the interest of Mobecom.

“It typically takes a long time for a startup to develop a business and prove the business model. The Lakeba Group reverse incubation model proves otherwise, as Paid By Coins has developed into a successful venture in less than 12 months,” he says.

“Mobecom has identified the success of Paid By Coins and the Lakeba Group’s ability to prove itself and to make this a reality. Given the rise and popularity of cryptocurrency globally and the volume of funds being put through various crypto exchanges, we believe that Paid By Coins entered the market at the right time and has grown into a viable, high performing business, with significant growth to come”.

The news is a huge step in the right direction for the global acceptance of cryptocurrency, an industry insider tells Stockhead.

“Through the existing merchant integrations already completed by Mobecom, this could end up becoming one of the largest merchant networks accepting cryptocurrency on the planet,” the insider says.

“This has to potential to completely revolutionise the way consumers and businesses process and accept payments.

“And working hand-in-hand with Lakeba Group is a massive positive for Mobecom, being able to expand their product offering and bring blockchain and cryptocurrency to them is going to greatly expand their customer base.”

The acquisition comes at an exciting time in the fast-moving crypto space, with news just a few days ago that Ohio has become the first US state to allow taxpayers to pay their tax bills using cryptocurrency.

Mobecom is a Stockhead advertiser.