Skrill
E-commerce payment business
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Skrill is part of Paysafe Limited, a global payments platform. It is one of Paysafe's digital wallet brands and was established in 2001 to offer multiple online payment and money transfer services.[3] The company facilitates multiple payment options including card payments, bank transfers and local payment methods. The funds in a Skrill account can then be used to pay merchants and other Skrill users or converted into cryptocurrency.
 | |
| Type | Public company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Online payments |
| Founded | 27 July 2001 |
| Headquarters | London, United Kingdom |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Bruce Lowthers (CEO)[1] |
| Products | Payment gateway Digital wallet Prepaid card PSP Cryptocurrencies Money transfer |
| Revenue |  US $1.496 billion (Paysafe’s FY 2022 revenue)[2] |
Number of employees | 3,300 |
| Parent | Paysafe |
| Website | skrill |
Skrill also has cross-border payments accessible to users via its remittance service.[4] The service enables users to send money to a bank account overseas using their bank card.
In 2015, Skrill was acquired by Paysafe [5][6] along with former competitor NETELLER and prepaid payment provider paysafecard.[7]
History
Early history (2001 to 2015)
Skrill, formerly known as Moneybookers, was founded in 2001 in the United Kingdom as a digital wallet provider.[8] By 2007, it had become established as one of the top three e-payment solution providers in Europe[9] when it was purchased by Investcorp in March of that year.[10] In August 2010, Skrill, operating under the name Moneybrookers, blocked a donation account operated by WikiLeaks citing the organisation's addition to Australian blacklists and American watchlists.[11] In September 2011, Moneybookers announced that they would rebrand their service as Skrill, completing the rebrand in 2013.[12] As Skrill, they completed the acquisition of Austrian-based prepaid payment method paysafecard in February 2013,[13] before being acquired by CVC Capital Partners for €600 million in August 2013.[14]
In 2009, Skrill, then known as Moneybookers, suffered a large security breach which exposed the data of almost 4.5 million customers. The breach was not discovered until October 2015 and included names, e-mail addresses, home addresses and IP addresses.[15]
Paysafe subsidiary (2015 onwards)
In 2015, Skrill was acquired by Optimal Payments, the parent company of rival digital wallet NETELLER, for €1.1 billion.[16] During this period, Skrill Group announced in April 2015 that it had completed the acquisition of Ukash, a UK-based competitor of paysafecard, which was merged during the same year.[17] In November 2015, Optimal Payments rebranded as Paysafe.[18]
In 2018, Skrill began to extend the amount of services offered to its users, launching an international money transfer service in February 2018,[19] and a crypto service in July 2018 allowing users to buy and trade cryptocurrencies.[20] This was followed by the launch of Skrill's customer loyalty programme, KNECT, in November 2019[21] and the extension of the international money transfer service to US users in June 2020.[22]
Sponsorship and relationships
In 2011, Skrill first sponsored the PokerStars owned European Poker Tour for its eighth season, sponsoring the event again in 2013 for its tenth season.[23]
In July 2013, English football's National League signed a one-year sponsorship deal with Skrill[24] with the Conference's divisions being known as The Skrill Premier, The Skrill North and The Skrill South.
In May 2020, Skrill announced a four-year AC Milan sponsorship deal.[25]
In March 2021, Skrill announced a new partnership with the English Premier League football team Leeds United.[26][27]
Service
Skrill is a digital multi-currency wallet that handles online payments and money transfers.[32]
