Acquiring

Chicago-based software developer Epazz Inc. spun off payments subsidiary ZenaPay Inc. as a Canadian corporation that will pursue business in the cannabis market. Citing a study by a British research firm, biometric card manufacturer SmartMetric Inc. says nearly 579 million biometric credit and debit cards will be in use globally …

A subsidiary of Visa Inc. is offering to buy Earthport PLC, a London-based provider of cross-border payments for banks and businesses, for approximately $250 million in cash. The offer represents a 250% premium to Earthport’s six-month average share price ended Dec. 24 and has the endorsement of Earthport’s board of …

In a lawsuit filed last week in federal court in Atlanta, mobile point-of-sale specialist AnywhereCommerce Inc. claims Ingenico Group SA interfered with its contracts and business relationships and violated its trade secrets. The case, filed Dec. 20 in the Northern District of Georgia Atlanta Division, alleges that Paris-based Ingenico and …

Sales from Thanksgiving through Christmas on all forms of payment increased 5.1% compared to the same period last year to more than $850 billion, according to Mastercard Spending Pulse, which says this is the most robust growth seen in six years. Online sales gained 19.1%. Facebook Inc.’s WhatsApp messaging platform …

Mindbody Inc., the health and wellness software-application provider, said Vista Equity Partners will buy the company for $1.9 billion. Shareholders will receive $36.50 per share, a 68% premium over Mindbody’s Dec. 21 closing price of $21.72. Mindbody became an independent sales organization in 2010 to be able to sell its …

Restaurants are a coveted merchant segment for many acquirers and independent sales organizations. So, knowing how payments are changing and the impact that might have on this merchant segment is critical. First off, in 2019, the prospect for more consumers carrying, and wanting to use, contactless credit and debit cards …

A big office lease in downtown Oakland, Calif., suggests merchant processor Square Inc. is about to embark on a big expansion. Square on Thursday signed a lease for an entire 356,000-square-foot building that once was a Sears department store and after that was briefly owned by the ride-sharing firm Uber. …

Pepsi-Cola of the Hudson Valley reached an agreement  with USA Technologies Inc. to install contactless-payment capability on 300 vending machines and to upgrade payment devices on another 1,000 machines already linked to USAT’s ePort Connect Service. Merchant processor Square Inc. agreed to lease an entire 356,000-square-foot building in Oakland, Calif., where …

Merchants have come a long way since the inception of the Merchant Advisory Group, but far more needs to be done to restore some semblance of balance in payments. Upon reflection, it is remarkable that traditional merchants had no formal means to get together to discuss payments until the MAG …

Mobile-commerce platform PredictSpring said it developed a mobile-shopping app and store-associate app that provides a buy-online, pickup-in-store function for BevMo!, a specialty-beverage retailer. Synchrony Financial announced it will provide private-label credit card services to Qurate Retail Group, parent company of HSN, beginning in 2019. Synchrony also extended existing deals with …