Private Equity firm is acquiring a lot of currency conversion APIs
I'm working on a side project that needed a currency conversion API, and I'd originally started using https://exchangeratesapi.io/ which until a few days ago was a free API - https://web.archive.org/web/20210328014153/https://exchangeratesapi.io/
As of today, it is now a paid API, and says it's operated by apilayer (which was recently acquired by a private equity firm).
It seems like they've acquired a decent number of currency conversion APIs:
1. https://openrates.io/ 2. https://currencystack.io/ 3. https://fixer.io
And probably a few more.
It's almost amazing how private equity strategy works :)
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[1]: https://exchangerate.host/ [2]: https://starboard.gg/#visualization
Only at the point where the roll-up creates a dominant player (or several, ie. a monopoly, duopoly, or oligopoly[0]) and antitrust rules kick in to prevent further consolidation or abuse (of various sorts) of the dominant position(s).
[0] In theory, antitrust also protects from abuse of monopsonies etc., but abuse of a dominant buyer (eg. Walmart) is harder to accomplish and maintain, harder to prove harm, and harder to regulate.