New Zealand cloud-based accounting software company Xero Limited (ASX: XRO) has announced that it has entered into a binding agreement to acquire 100% of Israeli fintech company Melio. Xero will make an immediate payment of US$2.5 billion in cash and shares and a further $500 million in milestone payments and continued employment of current staff members.
Melio, which was founded by Bar, Ziv Paz, and Ilan Atias, has raised nearly $600 million. The company raised $250 million in September 2021, at the peak of the Covid tech boom, at a company valuation of $4 billion. At the end of last year, Melio raised a further $150 million at a valuation of $2 billion. Major investors include Fiserv, Thrive Capital, General Catalyst, Tiger Global Management, Bessemer, Coatue, Aleph, Accel, Corner Ventures, and Latitude.
The big winners in the deal are the founders – Bar, Paz and Atias – who together hold 7%-9% of the company’s shares and will earn about $100 each from the exit. Bessemer has an 18% stake and Aleph holds a 12% stake. Each fund will generate a multiplier of several dozen times their original investment in the company’s first financing round. Coatue also has a 12% stake although its returns are not as large as it invested at a later stage.
Melio has developed a pay platform for small and medium sized business that integrates accounting and payments, and offers US companies and their accountants and bookkeepers easy-to-use accounts payable workflows and a wide choice of payment methods, providing more visibility and control over their cash flow. Xero says the acquisition of Melio will help it expand in the US market.
Xero CEO Sukhinder Singh Cassidy said, “We’re thrilled to announce we’re acquiring Melio, a leading US B2B payments platform that strongly aligns with our 3×3 strategy and US growth ambitions. Adding Melio’s world-class team, technology platform, and innovative A/P solutions to Xero enables a step change in our North America scale and the potential to help millions of US SMBs and their accountants better manage their cash flow and accounting on one platform. Xero and Melio are highly complementary – together they complete the key jobs to be done for US SMBs, extend reach across customer segments, provide both direct and syndicated offerings, and deliver multiple revenue drivers.”
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Melio cofounder and CEO Matan Bar added, “Joining Xero is an incredible opportunity for the Melio team to further our mission to reinvent the way businesses pay each other. Having worked closely with the Xero team, we’re excited by our shared purpose to scale in the US and combine Xero’s accounting capabilities with Melio’s accounts payable and receivable solutions to create comprehensive product offerings for our collective, valued customer base.”
Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on June 25, 2025.
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