Visa announced Thursday that it had signed an agreement to acquire Swedish open banking platform Tink for €1.8bn, a landmark acquisition for European tech and open banking. 

If completed, this would be the third-largest acquisition of a European VC-backed fintech, according to Dealroom data.

The announcement comes after Visa scrapped its $5.3bn bid to absorb data sharing fintech firm Plaid earlier this year following concerns from US regulators. At the time, a source close to Tink said that the company and its investors were “punching the air” in celebration when they heard the deal had fallen apart.

“As we got to know Visa, it became clear that we share a common mission — to connect the financial world and accelerate the growth and adoption of digital financial services,” said Tink’s cofounders Daniel Kjellén and Fredrik Hedberg in a blog published Thursday. 

Stockholm-based Tink started off as a consumer app in 2012, helping customers keep track of their personal finances, but later pivoted to providing banks and other fintech players with its aggregation software. It went on to become Europe’s largest open banking company, integrated with more than 3.4k banks and financial institutions and reaching millions of bank customers.

Post acquisition, Tink will keep its brand, management team and Stockholm headquarters. 

Tink also held discussions about an acquisition with Mastercard in 2019. 

“Visa is committed to doing all we can to foster innovation and empower consumers in support of Europe’s open banking goals,” said Al Kelly, CEO and Chairman of Visa.

“By bringing together Visa’s network of networks and Tink’s open banking capabilities we will deliver increased value to European consumers and businesses with tools to make their financial lives more simple, reliable and secure.”

The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. 

Tink is not the only Swedish fintech to be acquired by a global payments giant; PayPal bought iZettle for $2.2 billion in 2018.

Josh Bell, general partner at Dawn Capital, a Tink and iZettle investor said, “With Tink and iZettle, Sweden has now produced two of Europe’s largest-ever fintech M&A exits, reflecting the world-class innovation, commercial excellence and entrepreneurial talent we have found across the Nordic market. As the only investor in both companies, we are delighted to have supported their successful journeys to new homes within corporations with global reach, validating the relevance of the B2B tech coming out of Europe. We wish Tink continuing success in the next chapter of its journey.”