Dive Brief:

• Payments software company Flywire acquired StudyLink, an Australian education software-as-a-service company, on Nov. 3, Flywire said in a Tuesday news release. 
• The purchase price was about $38.8 million, which consisted of $34.9 million in cash and up to $3.9 million in “contingent consideration,” according to Flywire’s filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission for the quarter ended Sept. 30. With the purchase, Flywire takes on all of StudyLink’s approximately 60 employees, a Flywire spokesperson said.
• The acquisition is aimed at accelerating the company’s “global expansion in its education vertical,” Boston-based Flywire said in the filing. StudyLink serves universities throughout Australia with its international student admissions, application and agent management software.

Dive Insight:

Flywire focuses on payments in the education, healthcare, travel and business-to-business verticals. The company embeds its software and payments technology in existing accounts receivable workflows.

The company sells its software and payment services in markets where cross-border payments have been slower to digitize and often involve complex software, CEO Mike Massaro has said. 

Flywire was on the hunt for acquisitions, after acquiring Australian company Cohort Go in July 2022, and the U.K. company WPM in December 2021, Massaro said in a May interview.

Adelaide, Australia-based StudyLink provides cloud-based software to universities and education agents handling student admissions and application processes.

StudyLink sought to incorporate payments within its workflow processes, Flywire noted in its release. Combining StudyLink’s application and enrollment platform with Flywire’s payments technology and software is designed “to capture and streamline the entire student payment journey, from admissions through to deposit and tuition payments, as well as strategic payables like agent commissions,” the release said. 

StudyLink will retain its Adelaide office, the Flywire spokesperson said.

Flywire joins a crop of payments companies that have announced acquisitions in recent weeks. Just last month, payments company Shift4 Payments said it bought SpotOn’s sports and entertainment business unit for $100 million; payment processor Fiserv announced it acquired Brazilian company Skytef; and payments technology company NMI said it bought the commercial division of payments software provider Sphere, among other deals.