South Africa’s Payment24, a global payments platform provider specializing in payment and loyalty solutions, has acquired Switzerland-headquartered Inergy 24 to accelerate its expansion in Europe.
Payment24 began life as a digital fuel management solutions and telematics platform but has expanded to become a global platform developer specializing in payment and loyalty solutions for the financial, oil, retail, convenience, transport, and logistics industries. It has a presence on five continents and in 18 countries.
Its acquisition of Inergy 24 will see the company further expand in Europe, with the two businesses collectively providing customers throughout Europe with access to the Payment24 platform, including payment, fleet management, mobile and retail, loyalty, electric vehicle (EV), and cloud payments solutions.
“As a fairly new player in the European digital and fuel payments ecosystem, our platform provides customers bound to unwieldy legacy payment solutions with an entirely reimagined digital solution that is quick and easy to deploy. This is an extremely exciting time to enter the European market, and we are experiencing enormous interest in the platform and its additional retail and banking capabilities,” says Shadab Rahil, joint CEO at Payment24. “Our investment in Inergy 24 allows us to better serve and deliver solutions to clients across Europe.”
As part of the agreement, the Payment24 team has appointed industry expert Alan McGown as the CEO of the Inergy 24, and joint Payment24 CEOs Rahil and Nolan Daniel will serve on the company’s board. Alongside ongoing investment and access to its platform, Payment24 will provide Inergy 24 with access to its development, support, sales, and marketing teams.
“The investment from Payment24 comes at a time when European businesses are hungry for a change from outdated, inflexible payment solutions,” said McGown. “The modularity and expandability of the Payment24 platform allows our customers to think beyond payments and add elements such as loyalty, telematics, mobile payments, and even vouchers to their offerings. Its EV payment is also exceptionally relevant for the growing ESG requirements in Europe.”
Over the last three years, the Payment24 platform has grown from a fleet management and petroleum payments solution to an all-encompassing payments and transacting solution, Daniel said.
“We are constantly developing the platform, and today we are delivering solutions to customers in the banking, oil, retail, convenience, transport, and logistics markets. In addition, our ongoing development and the inclusion of technologies such as AI to the platform ensure that our clients benefit from constant modernization and can adapt their offerings at the speed of business,” he said.
The startup recently launched a Cloud Switch, a cloud-based payment solution that decreases time to market for businesses wanting to upgrade their transaction switching systems. A fully integrated, versatile, hardware-less payment switch that supports a myriad of payment methods, CloudSwitch combines cloud technology, various payment methods, robust POS compatibility, and a suite of value-added services to deliver an all-inclusive transaction environment.
Payment24 said the solution serves the unique needs of acquiring banks, fuel retailers, merchants, and retailers, and dramatically decreases the time to market for businesses wanting to upgrade their transaction switching systems.
“Cloud Switch embodies our dedication to transforming the payment ecosystem. This solution empowers acquiring banks and fuel retailers to easily manage complex payments, harnessing the cloud’s power for unmatched scalability and reliability,” said Rahil.
“Ultimately Cloud Switch was developed to cater to a global market but developed with the localization capabilities required to adapt it to every region it is deployed in. We believe it marks a significant stride in financial technology, bringing versatile payment methods, seamless transaction flows, and vital real-time monitoring capabilities into our clients’ hands. Our goal is to simplify, streamline, and secure the payment processes, and Cloud Switch is a testament to that mission.”
