Billtrust, a provider of accounts-receivable software for businesses, said it will go public at a valuation of $1.3 billion through a merger with South Mountain Merger Corp., a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC. Going public via a SPAC has become an increasingly popular option in recent months.In …

Shift4 Payments dazzled the payments industry and Wall Street with its June initial public offering. What do recent processor IPOs say about the prospects for payments companies? No investment in the stock market is a sure winner, but payments investments often prove to be better than others. On June 4, …

Payments provider Paya Inc. today announced a merger with special acquisition merger company (SPAC) FinTech Acquisition Corp III. The merger is being consummated as part of Atlanta-based Paya’s plans to take the company public. Currently, the company is owned by private-equity firm GTCR LLC.  Because Fintech Acquisition is already a …

After a more than 10-year relationship with MerchantPro Express LLC, processor and banking-services provider Fiserv Inc. is bringing the Melville, N.Y.-based firm in house with an acquisition of the independent sales organization. Announced Tuesday, the deal sees the long-time partner—likely with First Data Corp., which Fiserv bought last year—acquired as a …

U.S. payments companies looking to acquire properties in key markets like e-commerce and merchant acquiring have found a willing seller in Sage Group PLC. Early Monday, the company announced it agreed to sell its payments gateway, Sage Pay Europe Ltd., to Atlanta-based Elavon for $300 million. The deal will bring …

Fiserv Inc. said its Clover point-of-sale system is in use throughout Fiserv Forum, a Milwaukee arena that is home to the Milwaukee Bucks NBA team. Fiserv said more than 25 large stadiums and arenas use Clover. In 2018, Clover processed more than $70 billion in payment volume.Evolve Bank & Trust said it …

Paya Inc. said on Tuesday is has acquired First Billing Services, a Dayton, Ohio-based billing processor for municipalities, utilities, and multifamily housing units. The $57.5 million deal, which Paya chief executive Jeff Hack says was consummated minutes before midnight on New Year’s Eve, represents the Reston, Va.-based payments provider’s second …

Boosted by its 2017 acquisition of Singular Payments, merchant processor Payment Data Systems Inc. said its credit card transactions rose 109% year-over-year in the third quarter and dollar volume rose 112%. Revenues increased 80% to $6.47 million from $3.59 million in 2017’s third quarter. The company reported a net loss of …

Left behind in the last decade’s rush to sign up merchants for electronic payments is the non-profit sector, made up chiefly of faith-based organizations that collect billions of dollars yearly in offerings and donations—most of it in cash and checks. Still, payments providers are starting to pay attention, and on …

ISOs have been slow to jump on the bandwagon for digital currency because the list of barriers to mainstream use remains too long. Merchants such as Overstock.com and Newegg.com may be leading the charge to accept Bitcoin and myriad other crypto­currencies, but if crypto is to make serious progress toward …