3i Invests $23 Million In Click & Buy

Click & Buy is Europe's leading online payment system used by more than 5 million consumers on 4,000 merchant websites. The company opened a New York office in 2004. Webpay International has plans to further expand into other markets in the U.S., as well as expansion plans for Canada, South America, Asia and Eastern Europe with the support of 3i.

For the U.S. market, Click&Buy sees a major opportunity for digital commerce in the publishing, games and online music industries and will use 3i's funding to target those and other areas. Click&Buy's eCommerce software allows merchants to partially or completely outsource complex billing of content, services and physical goods and processing of local currency and credit cards to Webpay, an expert in the field. Webpay is a critical enabler of digital commerce, offering a complete digital commerce supply chain, which includes delivery, customer service, data reporting, cataloguing & merchandising, billing, payment and rights management.

In the last six months alone, Webpay has won many well-known brands as customers, including Apple iTunes and Microsoft Music, who deliver music downloads across Europe. Click&Buy will soon announce the availability of Skype and EA to consumers in the U.S. Other major clients include The Financial Times, The Discovery Channel and Disney Toontown (UK) in Europe and Kiplinger and iVillage in the United States. Furthermore, the company plans to penetrate new payment platforms, such as the mobile payments industry sector. Most recently, Click&Buy/Webpay signed a deal with SanDisk to distribute the Rolling Stone's "A Bigger Bang" for mobile and portable devices.

Fraud prevention systems play a key role in the development of the online payment market. Click & Buy has developed their own fraud prevention system, which protects both the customer and the merchant from misuse. In addition to the safety aspect, the speed and user-friendliness of the Click & Buy platform has considerably contributed to the rapid uptake of the service.

Robin Murray, Partner, 3i US, said: "Given strong broadband penetration and massive uptake of killer applications like online music downloads and gaming which will further accelerate growth of online payment systems, 3i is very excited about driving global development of the Click & Buy payment solution. We believe this will take Click & Buy's leadership position in Germany and Europe to an international level."

Norbert Stangl, founder and chairman of Webpay AG, which operates the Click & Buy system, said: "3i is the ideal partner for our European and worldwide expansion. In addition to a first class brand, 3i has a global network consisting of the top names in the Internet field - an advantage not to be underestimated when considering the rollout of Click & Buy."