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Merchant processor Electronic Merchant Systems announced Thursday that it has taken a majority stake in Paysley, a contactless payments software specialist that enables merchants to send payment requests and QR codes to customers’ mobile phones.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but EMS chief executive Dan Neistadt tells Digital Transactions News that EMS acquired a 60% interest in Paysley, which was founded in 2015. Dan Roets, Paysley’s founder and president, will remain with the company.
Chapel Hill, N.C.-based Paysley’s cloud-based system enables merchants to send direct payment requests via text message or email. Merchants also can use Paysley to enable customers to make payments via QR codes. In addition, Paysley’s system enables merchants to link directly to Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to set up virtual marketing campaigns, auctions and fundraisers from their social-media sites. Paysley also supports recurring payments.
Paysley, which offers several monthly service plans to merchants for prices starting at $15, works with an undisclosed number of processors and merchant acquirers to reach merchants. Neistadt says that until now EMS had not been a direct user of Paysley, though it did have access to its services through a third party. He says EMS became interested in investing in the company because of the “people involved, we liked their strategic direction, [and] they will continue to grow.”
Neistadt expects Paysley will help EMS solidify its relationships with merchants. EMS is a Top 100 U.S. merchant processor by dollar volume, according to rankings by The Strawhecker Group, a payments-industry research and consulting firm. “The idea here is to combine the physical world with the virtual world. We believe ‘omni-channel’ is not a buzzword. Whatever is required to offer merchants a full suite of business services, Paysley is in the process of developing.”
Although Paysley serves clients that compete with EMS, Paysley is “totally agnostic” and will continue to be so despite EMS’s 60% ownership stake, Neistadt says.
