Xero announced a deal to acquire small business payments platform Melio for $2.5 billion and fill a gap in its offerings by integrating accounting and bill payments.

Cloud accounting platform Xero announced it will acquire payments solution provider Melio . Join our community today and get unlimited access to Accounting Today.

New Zealand accounting software giant Xero agreed to buy U.S.-Israeli payments provider Melio for as much as $3 billion, the companies said on Wednesday, accelerating the Kiwi firm's push into the U.S.