Xero chief executive Sukhinder Singh Cassidy says her $3.9 billion bet on American accounting and invoicing platform Melio Payments will help the ASX-listed software giant break into the US after a decade of unsuccessful attempts at expanding into the lucrative market.

The $US2.5 billion acquisition is Singh Cassidy’s first major deal since she became chief executive of the local accounting software giant in February 2023, promising to transform Xero into a global software giant.