Payments acceptance specialist Ingenico has completed the acquisition of Phos, to extend its Merchant Payment Acceptance via Smartphone.
Phos is a provider of software-only Point of Sale solutions (SoftPoS) to multiple of acquirers and PSPs. Its software enables off-the-shelf smartphones or tablets to become payment terminals while meeting compliance standards.
The biggest beneficiaries of the technology are small merchants or ‘solopreneurs’ looking for simple means to accept digital payments, but SoftPoS also allows bigger businesses to equip their sales associates with tablet-type devices for in-aisle payments acceptance.
Why does the acquisition make sense?
With the market for SofPoS terminals expected to grow from 3.1 million worldwide in 2022 to almost 12 million in 2027 the acquisition of Phos is part of Ingenico’s greater shift towards software-driven services. In September 2022, it was acquired by the investment funds managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management.
Ingenico, which was launched as an independent company as a result, had said at the time that it planned to strengthen its existing offering and accelerate transition towards a greater mix of software and cloud-based services. This included its latest range of Android OS-based platform (AXIUM), Terminal as a Service (TaaS) offering, and Payments Platform as a Service (PPaaS) platform.
The Phos solution enables contactless form of card payment from the main international payment schemes as well as digital wallets such as Apple Pay and Google Pay and QR code-based payments.
Phos features app-to-app and web-to-app API-based integrations, as well as a software development kit (SDK) for embedded payment acceptance.
Speaking on the announcement, Giulio Montemagno, General Manager of PPaaS for Ingenico said: “Our clients and partners around the world have clearly identified SoftPoS as one of the biggest opportunities they see right now. They consider SoftPoS a strategic option to engage with new customer segments and develop and test innovative use cases at scale, with minimum incremental investments in technology and distribution.
“They are looking to Ingenico, as their trusted partner in payments acceptance, to help them do that. We are very excited to bring this high-quality opportunity to our valued customers by partnering with the talented teams at Phos.”
Image from Ingenico
