PayByPhone CEO Kush Parikh. Photo via PayByPhone.

PayByPhone, which powers a parking payment app used by some of the world’s largest cities and private lot operators, has a new owner.

Volkswagen Financial Services AG today announced the acquisition of PayByPhone, which employs more than 100 worldwide, including 65 in its hometown of Vancouver, B.C.

PayByPhone CEO Kush Parikh, who is based in Seattle, told GeekWire that the 15-year-old company will continue to operate independently and all employees will remain at their current offices. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

More than 300 cities across six countries use PayByPhone to allow citizens to fill meters without visiting their car or displaying a stub. The app has more than 12.5 million users and processes more than $300 million in parking payments annually. PaybyPhone, which is adding 7,000 users per day, also recently integrated Apple Pay and Android Pay into its app.

Volkswagen Financial Services AG, a business division of the Volkswagen AG group of companies, said that the acquisition positions the car-maker for a “separate business field around the theme of parking.” Volkswagen last year acquired 92 percent of Sunhill Technologies GmbH, a Germany-based mobile parking platform.

“With the acquisition of PayByPhone, we are now the leading provider for the processing and mobile payment of parking,” Dr. Christian Dahlheim, the management board member responsible for sales and marketing at Volkswagen Financial Services AG, said in a statement. “In the future, we will be bundling this know-how in a separate business field around the theme of parking.”

PayByPhone debuted in Seattle in July 2013 and now does 750,000 transactions per year in the Emerald City. Users in Seattle pay a $0.35 convenience fee when they use PayByPhone to park in one of 12,000 spaces across the city.

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