EQS-News: The Payments Group Holding identifies business activity fields and investment opportunities in AI company building and the biotech sector

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The Payments Group Holding identifies business activity fields and investment opportunities in AI company building and the biotech sector

• AI company-building spin-offs
• Disruptive, demonstrably clearly superior and proven diagnostic radiopharmaceutical
• Negotiations with The Payments Group

Frankfurt/Main, 13 December 2025 – The Payments Group Holding (PGH), a holding company based in Frankfurt am Main that was founded in 2012 and renamed in August 2024, identifies interesting new fields of business activity and, at the same time, very promising investment opportunities. These opportunities originate, on the one hand, from company building activities jointly operated with Softmax AI and, on the other hand, from the continued pursuit of the research and development work of a team of senior physicians and chemists who have developed a new, disruptive, demonstrably superior radiopharmaceutical that has already been successfully tested for more than three years, for much higher-resolution imaging in the diagnosis of certain common, serious diseases, to identify the best, most targeted therapy option. Comparable products currently in use, but clearly inferior to this new development are among the so-called blockbusters, a term used in the pharmaceutical industry to describe products generating annual revenues in the billions.

In the field of artificial intelligence, the spin-off Cognicare AI, emerging from the company-building activities operated jointly with Softmax AI, currently stands out in particular, offering already proven and strongly demanded applications for the growing elderly care sector. PGH also expects further comparable success stories and opportunities for consolidation in 2026.

By pursuing these opportunities, PGH could return to its roots as a successful venture capital investor – having been the second most active German venture capital investor for many years under the name German Startups Group – and focus on the asymmetrically high return potential of disruptive venture projects. In doing so, it aims to focus on early-stage startups that require only manageable amounts of capital and offer a high degree of planning certainty. The above business fields and investment opportunities fulfill these criteria.

They do not represent an alternative to the planned acquisition of The Payments Group (TPG), but rather an additional option in terms of portfolio diversification. If the current negotiations to adjust the transaction terms to TPG’s changed economic parameters fail to reach an agreement that safeguards the interests of PGH’s shareholders, the TPG acquisition would not take place and, correspondingly, the transfer of a large number of treasury shares in the range of approximately 19 to 23 million shares would also not be required. In addition, the prior placement of several million treasury shares to finance the cash component of the TPG acquisition would then also become redundant.

CEO and founder Christoph Gerlinger: “In retrospect, the long wait imposed on us for the MFSA’s approval of the planned TPG acquisition has ultimately worked in our favor. During this time, we took the precaution of looking for other opportunities with great diligence and energy – and with great success. We were able to identify very interesting business activity fields and launch conversations on very promising investment. Regardless of whether we complete the TPG acquisition on the terms we seek, excellent prospects are opening up for our company in 2026.”

About The Payments Group Holding

 The Payments Group Holding (PGH) is a holding company and venture capital provider based in Frankfurt am Main founded in 2012 and renamed in August 2024.

In August 2024, PGH signed a share purchase agreement for the acquisition of four PayTech companies, which is expected to close in Q1 2026 subject to certain conditions precedent. After closing of the transaction, PGH will form a group of four operating PayTech companies:

Funanga AG, Campamocha Ltd with its 100%-owned subsidiaries TBWS Ltd and Calida Financial Ltd as well as Surfer Rosa Ltd form a fast-growing, vertically integrated e-Money PayTech group of companies - The Payments Group (TPG). TPG provides proprietary closed and open (branded and white-labelled) prepaid payment services to hundreds of online merchants worldwide. The synergy between these companies positions TPG as the future market leader in embedded financial products and prepaid solutions. Calida Financial Ltd. is the regulated company within TPG, having received an e-money license from the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) in August 2024. This license entitles Calida Financial Ltd. to offer innovative e-money services and products across Europe.

TPG employs over 50 people and operates globally. TPG's customers make use of more than 550,000 POS cash payment points and the global online prepaid card network to process cash and cashless online payments.

Furthermore, PGH operates an AI-focused company builder called 'Softmax AI' together with AI experts via its future 25% stake in German AI Projects GmbH. In addition, The Payments Group Holding holds from its history as a leading German venture capital provider under the German Startups Group brand a heritage VC-portfolio of minority stakes in partly promising German startups via its wholly owned subsidiary German Startups Group VC GmbH.
 

More information: www.tpgholding.com.

Investor Relations Contact
Rosenberg Strategic Communications
Alexander Schmidt
a.schmidt@rosenbergsc.com