Payments company Novatti is acquiring a strategic stake in accounting software company Reckon, saying it hopes benefit from synergies between the two businesses.

Novatti launched a capital raising on Friday, seeking A$45 million, With the proceeds it will acquire 22.5 million Reckon shares from existing shareholders “primarily at a price of $1 per share”.

It will use the balance of the funds to develop market opportunities and look for other acquisition opportunities.

Novatti is also applying for a banking licence and it confirmed on Friday that it continues with that application.

Novatti chief executive Peter Cook said in a statement: “There is a tight synergy between business automation software and payments processing. For clients, this combination drives increasing productivity.

“For providers, it drives a strong economic return based on cross selling.”

Reckon has 100,000 customers. It made a net profit of $9.7 million on revenue of $75 million in 2019/20.

Novatti expects to report sales revenue of more than $15 million in the year to June.