Dive Brief:

• Vending machine and software company Cantaloupe said Monday that it has purchased the self-service kiosk and software company Three Square Market for $41 million in a bid to expand in the U.S. and internationally.
• The acquisition also allows the company to build its presence in the “micro market,” according to a Cantaloupe press release about the purchase issued Monday. The combination allows Malvern, Pennsylvania-based Cantaloupe to add 3,000 locations in North America as well as the United Kingdom, Sweden and Romania, according to the release. 
• River Falls, Wisconsin-based Three Square Market, also known as 32M, will have an estimated $19 million in annual revenue this year, with EBITDA margins of 20-plus percent, according to the release. It caters to the micro market, which are self-service areas in hotels, airports and other locations that let consumers pick up food or other items and pay on a self-service basis, without any sales staff involved in the transaction.

Dive Insight:

Cantaloupe provides digital payments and related software for self-service commerce, including all types of vending machines. The acquisition of 32M comes just months after Cantaloupe promoted its former chief operating officer, Ravi Venkatesan, to the CEO post in October, following the exit of its prior CEO, Sean Feeney.

Cantaloupe, which has about 25,000 customers, had already entered the micro market, partly by tapping the services of 32M. The acquisition adds 32M self-service kiosks, self-service coolers and cloud-based software to the Cantaloupe operations. In some cases, 32M’s software is already connected to Cantaloupe’s platform, allowing the two businesses to now easily upsell and cross-sell across their combined clientele, Venkatesan said in the release.  

The acquisition also increases the size of Cantaloupe’s sales force and customer service staff in the U.S. and U.K., the release said. Cantaloupe expects the business combination will accelerate revenue growth while also expanding the company’s profit margins, according to the release.

Cantaloupe suggested that the purchase also makes Cantaloupe itself more appealing as a potential partner or acquisition target. “We believe that this combination also enhances the value and attractiveness of our company for future partners and strategic opportunities,” Venkatesan noted in the release.

Cantaloupe will have more to say about the acquisition at an upcoming presentation for investors next week on Dec. 12, according to the release.