Calgary-based FinTech firm Digital Commerce Payments (DCPayments) has acquired the operating business of Toronto-based product information management (PIM) firm Jasper Commerce.
The deal saw Jasper’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Jasper Interactive Studios Inc. (JISI), sell all of its assets to DCPayments for a maximum of $1.5 million, as the deal includes a revenue earnout over a three-year period following the close of the transaction.
DCPayments is looking to grow to become “a one-stop shop for businesses” that want to move online or augment their online offerings.
PIM involves the processes and systems used to manage and maintain product data efficiently. It includes collecting, storing, and organizing all information related to a company’s products to ensure it is accurate and up-to-date across all channels.
Jasper Commerce developed a tool that helps merchants organize their inventory data and syncs that data to e-commerce platforms.
One of those platforms is Shopify, and Jasper says it is a Shopify Plus partner on its website. The company was founded in 2010, and its customers over the years have included brands like Skullcandy, Samsonite, and Yeti Cycles.
DCPayments, founded in 2007, offers digital payment solutions, including integrated payments, card services, and digital wallets to Canadian businesses. The acquisition will add Jasper’s PIM capabilities to DCPayments’ core payments business.
In a statement, DCPayments said it is looking to grow both organically as well as through acquisitions to become “a one-stop shop for businesses who want to move online or augment their online offerings.”
“The acquisition of the [PIM] assets of Jasper highlights our strategy of increasingly moving up the payments value chain by adding additional software that allows companies to build better online products and get to market faster,” Pamela Draper, president of DCPayments, said in a post on LinkedIn last week.
Jasper’s decision to sell its operating business comes after a period of financial strain, which the company described as “challenging operating conditions” in a June statement. In December 2022, Jasper, which traded on the TSX Venture Exchange under the ticker JPIM, began a “transformation plan” aimed at reducing its operating expenses and growing revenue.
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The company has seen a number of executive changes since then. Gerry Hurlow stepped down from his role as CEO in November 2023, and Sean Coutts served as interim CEO until CFO Ken Gutierrez stepped into the interim position that same month. Gutierrez left his role at Jasper in April 2024, along with board chair Jeff Klam.
The TSXV suspended trading of Jasper in April 2024, given the firm’s plans to sell its PIM business. In its June statement, Jasper said the decision to divest its PIM business followed a review undertaken over several months, which initially focused on organizational changes Jasper could make to continue to operate the business. Jasper said it was “unable to achieve its objectives in this regard” and was “forced to explore other strategic alternatives.”
“We believe that [DCPayments] is well-suited to continue to provide excellent service to our customers and to continue to operate our excellent PIM platform,” Mag Saad, chairman of Jasper’s board of directors, said in the statement.
Jasper will remain a reporting issuer in the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, and Ontario, according to a statement from DCPayments, but now has “no active business operations or assets other than its equity interest in JISI,” as well as its rights to receive future earnout payments from the acquisition.
Jasper is far from the only public Canadian tech company to face difficulties this year. A growing number of companies have sought to go private in recent months, including Nuvei, MDF Commerce, TrueContext, Q4 Inc., BBTV Holdings, and Dialogue Health Technologies.
Feature image courtesy Unsplash. Photo by CardMapr.nl.