Acquisition ‘adds new dimension’ to fintech business

School payment service ParentPay has bought a Bristol company which develops software for school and contract catering companies.

The acquisition of Cypad will result in the Coventry-based company having more than 200 employees providing services to more than 4m parents.

The deal extends ParentPay’s existing dinner money management and parent meal booking platform with a suite of apps that support the entire process of providing a school meals service.

Clint Wilson, group chief executive of ParentPay, believes the deal “adds a new dimension” to its growth strategy.

He said: “By joining together the UK leaders of online payment, meal ordering and kitchen management solutions, we bring to the market a breadth and depth of solution not currently available. This unique offering delivers the best school meal management platform to parents, schools and caterers across the UK.”

ParentPay’s acquisition of Cypad comes almost exactly a year after it bought Schoolcomms, an integrated and modular parental engagement, payment and parent mobile app.