Mastercard has bought Texas-based Vyze for an undisclosed sum, pushing into the point-of-sale (POS) financing sector, a rapidly growing industry that Accenture estimates to be a $1.8 trillion opportunity.
Vyze links POS systems for merchants with a network of lenders via APIs to provide shoppers with credit options at the exact moment of purchase, an offering that Mastercard said “complements” its existing credit card offerings.
Blake Rosenthal, executive vice president of global acceptance at Mastercard said: “Vyze adds to our ability to empower banks and other lending partners to participate in the growing trend of retail financing.”
The acquisition is the latest in a growing scramble to roll-up the rapidly evolving payments sector and, arguably, a reminder of the extent to which payments upstarts are disrupting established payments companies like Mastercard.
There were a record 102 payment sector transactions worth a total of $46 billion in the first six months of 2018 alone, surpassing 2017’s full-year figure of $32.9 billion.
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The end-to-end Vyze platform allows lenders and merchants to connect via APIs. Previously, managing and maintaining a range of consumer payment and financing options would require significant time and investment and in-store finance agreements are typically still paper-based and time-consuming.
“Shoppers looking for new ways to pay and merchants looking to sell higher ticket items and deter abandonments has driven a flurry of activity in the ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ market,” said Raymond Pucci, director of merchant services practice at Mercator Advisory Group.
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“This acquisition creates a new market making approach that supports operation at scale, helping banks offer and merchants shop for the terms that best fit their needs. Mastercard’s existing relationships will assure both take a serious look at this new solution,” he added.
“Mastercard has a long history of building an incredibly powerful network, connecting some of the world’s most influential financial institutions, merchants and innovators,” said Keith Nealon, CEO of Vyze. “With their relationships and scale, we see a great opportunity to reach exponentially more partners and consumers.”
