Deluxe expands payments business with Celero deal

Deluxe Corp., a company name that's synonymous with checks, is acquiring Celero Commerce, a financial technology company focused on payment solutions for small to midsize businesses. Deluxe was incorporated in Minneapolis as Deluxe Check Printers in 1920 and spent much of the latter years of the 20th century diversifying into financial technology products.

In 1990, Deluxe acquired an ACH company to compete head-to-head with the Federal Reserve in the ACH processing arena. A year later it acquired a check authorization service built for retailers. In 2000, the company spun off its electronic payment and information technology businesses into a separate entity known as eFunds Corp. eFunds was acquired by Fidelity National Information Services in 2007.

Deluxe made a play for the merchant acquiring space in 2021 with the acquisition of First American Payment Systems. In a June 18, 2026, press release, Deluxe said the Celero merchant portfolio, when combined with its existing portfolio, will propel the company into the ranks of top-10 nonbank merchant acquirers. Combined, Celero and Deluxe processed transactions totaling $70 billion in 2025, according to Deluxe's press release.

Deluxe is paying $625 million for Celero, plus certain seller transaction expenses, and expects to close the deal in the third quarter of 2026.

Creating a company with greater scale

The acquisition of Celero advances "the ongoing modernization of the Deluxe payment technology infrastructure" by bringing together complementary products and services, and diversifying its sales channels, the company stated in its press release. "Following close, Deluxe will go to market with greater scale and an expanded set of solutions to deliver for small and medium-sized businesses and merchants," the company added.

"Adding Celero immediately accelerates our transformation and shifts our revenue mix decisively toward our growing payments and data segments," said Barry McCarthy, president and CEO of Deluxe. "Combined the two companies will broaden our distribution reach and deepen our presence across key verticals, including financial institutions, independent software vendors, and independent sales organization partner channels."

McCarthy also said that Deluxe's "proprietary, fully-scaled processing platform…will compliment and seamlessly integrate with Celero and their technology to deliver a compelling value proposition for customers."

Kevin Jones, founder and CEO of Celero, added, "This is an exciting next chapter for Celero, our employees and customers. By bringing together Deluxe's scale, resources and payments capabilities with Celero's technology, channel expertise, and customer-first culture, we believe we're creating an even stronger platform for our customers and partners while opening new opportunities for growth."

Notice to readers: These are archived articles. Contact information, links and other details may be out of date. We regret any inconvenience.