Stone Enters Business Combination Agreement With Linx - Seite 2

Extending Stone’s offerings to penetrate the SMB software market by leveraging the strengths of Stone’s business model (such as SMB focus, integrated technology, high quality service and direct distribution) to adapt Linx’s vertical solutions to meet the needs of smaller merchants and distribute software more effectively into the SMB market.

Providing merchants with the tools to seamlessly adapt to a complex omnichannel world, by integrating their physical offline operations to a growing number of digital commerce channels (such as their own website, numerous online marketplaces and social media apps) through the combination of Linx’s digital solutions and Stone’s fintech-as-a-service platform.  

Complementary Strategies and Shared Vision to Digitize Offline Retail

Stone began this journey by establishing itself as (1) an integrated provider of payments and financial services for SMBs, through our ABC (Acquiring, Banking & Credit) platform and (2) a full stack digital payments solution for online merchants, marketplaces, wallets and sub acquirers, through our Pagar.me and Mundipagg platforms. More recently, Stone has advanced in its strategy to become an integrated provider of software and payments for SMBs by investing in a modern ecosystem of software solutions in different market segments, and helping our clients to digitalize their offline operations by offering complementary solutions such as food delivery, digital media, and online marketplace integration.

We have deployed this strategy by (1) offering software solutions through our own distribution channels, (2) investing and acquiring software companies with great people, scalable technology, and their own distribution channels, and (3) promoting Stone’s model and culture of client-centricity to help our software partners and investments put clients at the center of all their product design, processes and operations. Stone has invested in or acquired 11 software companies, in different verticals and horizontals such as food, food delivery, beauty salons, general retail, CRM, and digital media. As a result of this strategy, Stone has grown its subscribed software clients to approximately 305,000 as of July 2020, an increase of approximately 100% since 1Q20.