Founded 2018 by Matan Bar, Ilan Atias, Ziv Paz. $683M raised. Acquired by Xero for up to $3B (June 2025). B2B payments platform for 80,000 US small businesses.
B2B payments platform for SMBs · Founded 2018 by Matan Bar, Ilan Atias, and Ziv Paz · HQ New York, R&D Tel Aviv · $683M raised · Acquired by Xero (ASX: XRO) for up to $3B (June 2025) — the largest Israeli fintech acquisition by a non-US buyer.
Melio at a Glance
| Company | Melio Solutions Inc. |
| Founded | 2018, Israel |
| Co-founders | Matan Bar (CEO) · Ilan Atias · Ziv Paz |
| Headquarters | New York, New York |
| R&D center | Tel Aviv, Israel (~400 of ~600 employees) |
| Product | Digital accounts payable and receivable platform for small and medium-sized businesses |
| Total funding | $683M across multiple rounds |
| Peak valuation | $4B (Series D, September 2021) |
| Last private valuation | $2B (Series E, October 2024, led by Fiserv) |
| Customers | ~80,000 active businesses |
| Acquirer | Xero (ASX: XRO) · Up to $3B ($2.5B upfront + $500M contingent) · Announced June 2025 |
Bar, Atias, and Paz: Solving the Check Problem
Melio's founding thesis was simple and specific: American small businesses still pay their suppliers by check. In 2018, when Matan Bar, Ilan Atias, and Ziv Paz founded the company, the consumer payments revolution — Venmo, Zelle, Apple Pay — had largely bypassed B2B transactions for businesses with fewer than 50 employees. Invoices arrived by email or mail. Payments went out by check, often with multi-week payment cycles. Cash-flow visibility was minimal.
Bar, Atias, and Paz built a platform that lets small businesses pay any vendor electronically — via ACH bank transfer or credit card — even if the vendor does not accept digital payments. Melio handles the conversion: the business pays digitally through Melio's platform, and Melio delivers the payment to the vendor in whatever form the vendor accepts, including paper check if necessary. The platform integrates with accounting software (QuickBooks, Xero, FreshBooks) so that payments flow directly into the business's books.
The three founders launched the platform in 2019. Within 18 months, monthly processing volumes had surged 5,000 percent. The COVID-19 pandemic, which forced businesses to digitize operations overnight, accelerated adoption dramatically.
The Growth Arc: $1.3B to $4B to $2B
Melio's funding trajectory captures the full fintech valuation cycle. In January 2021, a $110 million Series C2 led by Coatue valued the company at $1.3 billion. Eight months later, a $250 million Series D co-led by Thrive Capital and General Catalyst tripled the valuation to $4 billion — one of the fastest valuation climbs in Israeli fintech history. Tiger Global, Accel, Bessemer, and Coatue all participated. Ken Chenault, former CEO of American Express and General Catalyst chairman, joined Melio's board.
Then the correction arrived. By October 2024, Melio raised $150 million at a $2 billion valuation — a 50 percent markdown from the 2021 peak. The round was led strategically by Fiserv, the payments infrastructure giant, signaling that Melio's value had migrated from growth-equity speculation to strategic-platform utility. Despite the valuation compression, Melio's revenue had grown tenfold since the 2021 peak round. The markdown was a valuation recalibration, not a business deterioration.
The Xero Acquisition
In June 2025, Xero — the New Zealand-founded, ASX-listed cloud accounting platform — announced the acquisition of Melio for up to $3 billion: $2.5 billion upfront (mostly cash) plus $500 million in contingent payments over three years, primarily structured as employee-retention incentives for Melio's 600-person team. Upon completion, Matan Bar took responsibility for the combined US business of Xero and Melio.
The strategic logic is direct. Xero is the dominant small-business accounting platform in Australia and New Zealand but has struggled to gain traction in the United States, where QuickBooks (Intuit) and FreshBooks hold the market. Melio gives Xero an embedded payments layer — accounts payable and receivable — that Intuit has been building internally but that Xero lacked. The acquisition converts Xero from a bookkeeping tool into a payments-enabled financial operating system for American small businesses.
For the Israeli ecosystem, the deal is notable as one of the largest acquisitions of an Israeli fintech by a non-US buyer. Most Israeli fintech exits have flowed to US acquirers (Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, Fiserv). Xero's acquisition routes Israeli fintech IP into the ANZ-European accounting-software stack.
The Tel Aviv R&D Center
Melio's engineering center in Tel Aviv employs approximately 400 of the company's 600 workers, including the senior management team. The company's product, engineering, and data teams are overwhelmingly Israel-based. This makes Melio one of the most Israel-heavy unicorns in the fintech category — unlike peers such as Rapyd or Fireblocks, which distribute engineering across multiple geographies.
Melio in the Israeli B2B Payments Landscape
Melio competes in the US SMB payments category alongside Tipalti (Israeli-founded, focused on mid-market AP automation), Bill.com (NYSE: BILL), and Ramp. In the broader Israeli fintech landscape, Melio is a peer to Rapyd (global payments-as-a-service), Papaya Global (global payroll), and Payoneer (NASDAQ: PAYO, Israeli-founded cross-border payments). The Xero acquisition makes Melio the first Israeli B2B payments unicorn to exit to an accounting-platform acquirer — a transaction type that had not previously occurred at this scale.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who founded Melio?
Matan Bar (CEO), Ilan Atias, and Ziv Paz, all Israeli entrepreneurs, co-founded Melio in 2018.
Who acquired Melio?
Xero (ASX: XRO), the New Zealand-founded cloud accounting company, acquired Melio for up to $3 billion ($2.5B upfront + $500M contingent), announced June 2025.
What does Melio do?
Melio provides a digital accounts payable and receivable platform for small businesses, enabling electronic payments to vendors — including vendors that only accept checks.
How much did Melio raise?
$683 million across multiple funding rounds, with a peak valuation of $4 billion in September 2021.
Is Melio an Israeli company?
Melio was founded in Israel, and approximately 400 of its 600 employees — including senior management — are based in Tel Aviv.
How many customers does Melio have?
Approximately 80,000 active business customers as of the Xero acquisition announcement.
What happened to Melio's valuation?
Melio peaked at $4B in 2021, compressed to $2B in 2024, and was acquired by Xero for up to $3B in 2025 — a premium over the last private valuation.
Primary Sources
Xero ASX announcement (June 2025). Times of Israel and Calcalist reporting on Xero acquisition. SiliconANGLE Series E coverage (October 2024). Reuters Series D announcement (September 2021). Crunchbase and PitchBook funding data. FinTech Weekly acquisition analysis (June 2025). Startup Nation Central company profile.
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Israeli Fintech Complete Map · Rapyd · Fireblocks · The Builders
