Tenzing-backed Tillo acquires Amilon

Transaction

Buy-side

Undisclosed

Role

Adviser to Tenzing-backed Tillo on its acquisition of Amilon

Sector

Tech & Tech Services

Region

UK
Italy

We have advised Tenzing-backed Tillo, the global rewards, incentives and gift card platform, on its acquisition of Amilon, the long-standing market leader in digital incentives, gift cards, and employee benefits in Italy. Our combined team provided M&A, Debt Advisory and Modelling & Data Analytics support.

Tillo is challenging the market with a best-in-class, plug-and-go API that offers businesses seamless connections to 4,000+ global brands that their customers and employees value. Tillo is the first global gift card network purpose-built to make it easy for brands and buyers to unlock engagement and growth. The company operates in 40 markets and 25 currencies, processing billions of dollars' worth of gift cards through its award-winning platform.

Founded in 2007, Amilon pioneered Italy’s digital gift card market and has since built a proprietary digital value ecosystem connecting millions of consumers, thousands of businesses and hundreds of leading brands.

The acquisition by Tillo marks a major milestone in its international growth strategy, creating a stronger combined platform for rewards, incentives and gift cards. Together, Tillo and Amilon form an undisputed transatlantic leader in the category, with expanded scale, supplier reach and market access for customers and partners across Europe, North America and APAC. Collectively, Tillo and Amilon expect to process over €3.4bn (£3bn) worth of gift cards in 2026 and grow 30% year-over-year.

The partnership accelerates Tillo's long-term vision to become the trusted technology infrastructure behind rewards, incentives, and gift cards globally - transforming them into the currency of connection.

The Clearwater team provided exceptional support throughout the acquisition, bringing together expertise from across multiple service lines and geographies to deliver a coordinated and highly effective advisory offering. Their ability to combine strategic insight, transaction execution capabilities and access to specialist expertise helped us navigate a complex process with confidence. Beyond execution, Clearwater acted as a trusted thought partner and were a pleasure to work with, their collaborative approach and commitment to delivering the right outcome made them an invaluable part of the transaction team.
Maria Tozzi Spadoni, Investments, Tenzing

The Clearwater modelling team have been an invaluable partner throughout an intense period of M&A with the proposed acquisition. They moved at pace with us, running multiple scenarios in tandem as our thinking evolved, and consistently made sound judgement calls when working with incomplete or imperfect information. New functionality was built into the model quickly and reliably whenever our requirements shifted, without compromising its integrity. They interacted with other external parties seamlessly to ensure the resulting product was robust and accurate. The resulting model stood up well to due diligence scrutiny and remains flexible enough for us to keep using long after the transaction work is done. They remained steadfast and professional throughout and would highly recommend.
Jonny Shonn, Interim CFO, Tillo

This is an incredibly exciting landmark moment for Tillo and for our industry. From our very first conversations with the Amilon team, it was clear we shared the same belief in where rewards, incentives and engagement are heading, and the role they play in creating genuine connections between brands, businesses, and consumers.
Alex Preece, CEO & Co-Founder, Tillo

Over the past two decades, Amilon has evolved from a gift card business into a leading digital value platform, helping companies engage, reward and connect with people through an increasingly diverse ecosystem of solutions. This is the next stage in that journey and reflects a shared ambition to help shape the future of digital value, where rewards, incentives, benefits and engagement work seamlessly across markets and channels.
Andrea Verri and Fabio Regazzoni, CEOs & Co-Founders, Amilon

This is a transformational transaction that brings together two highly complementary businesses to create a true pan-European leader in digital rewards, incentives and gift cards. Supporting Tillo on a cross-border acquisition of this scale required deep sector expertise, local market knowledge and seamless collaboration across multiple disciplines. It's a great example of how Clearwater's international platform and integrated advisory capabilities can help ambitious businesses execute complex growth strategies.
Ed Gale, Managing Director, Clearwater

This was a highly strategic acquisition that required a financing solution capable of supporting Tillo's next phase of international growth. Working alongside our M&A and Modelling & Data Analytics teams, we helped deliver a funding structure that provided certainty of execution while maintaining the flexibility needed to support the combined business as it continues to scale. It was a pleasure to support Tillo on such an important milestone.
Richard Clark, Managing Director, Clearwater