Worldline announces the acquisition of a majority stake in SoftPos.eu

Worldline, a global leader in payment services, today announces the closing of the acquisition of a 55% stake in SoftPos.eu, a Warsaw-based fintech that converts Android devices into secure payment terminals. This acquisition fully embeds Worldline’s objective to provide payment solutions that are adapted to all forms of commerce and serve the business ambitions of its clients. Based on SoftPos.eu, Worldline is launching a new product internationally: Worldline Tap on Mobile.

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Based in Poland, SoftPos.eu was created in 2019 by two payment entrepreneurs: Grzegorz Nowakowski and Biser Jorgow, supported by a financial investor P2 Invest, managed by Howard Polinski. The fintech converts regular Android devices into secure payment terminals, enabling merchants to accept card payments without the need for additional hardware.

As part of its strategy, Worldline is exploring new adjacencies in its value creation journey through technologies and products acquisitions. Together with SoftPos.eu, several partnerships with substantial value creation have been launched. Worldline is truly convinced by the fintech go-to-market and product development added-value, as a pivotal addition to the Group’s existing suite for merchants. Supported by SoftPos.eu technology, Worldline will leverage its vast portfolio, from onboarding to acquiring, and enhance customer value across all verticals.

Worldline Tap on Mobile

Worldline Tap on Mobile is a unique end-to-end solution based on Android application that allows all merchants – from micro to large – to accept payments using a smartphone, tablet, or enterprise device through one single tap. The solution is designed to accept small amounts simply by “tap” but also larger amounts with PIN entry on the screen.

Worldline Tap on Mobile will support the growth of its clients with:

  • Modern, convenient, easy, and fast acceptance of contactless payments
  • Flexibility, with no additional hardware needed, suited for all verticals
  • Secure, PCI-certified solution, with pin-entry for high value payments
  • Cost-effective solution replacing or complementing their existing fleet
  • Integration capabilities with third-party applications

Worldline Tap on Mobile is the first payments application certified by Zebra Technologies. Zebra Technologies is a global leader in enterprise asset intelligence, providing handheld devices for a large variety of verticals. The product has been fully certified by Zebra and makes Worldline the first payment partner of Zebra globally. Through this partnership, specialized integrators and partners in all segments can add payment to their customers’ offering over their Android devices.

Niklaus Santschi, Head of Merchant Services at Worldline, commented: “There is an appetite towards mobile payments from both consumers and businesses sides. With SoftPos.eu acquisition and the concrete business materialization of Worldline Tap on Mobile, Worldline is now providing its clients with full suite of solutions adapted to all growth ambitions. Complementing our existing offers, Worldline Tap on Mobile offers convenience and flexibility to all sizes of commerce, it is all about a single - and safe - tap. Worldline is now covering by itself a new core feature in the payments value chain, enabling to deploy it on demand, for both existing and new clients. This marks a new key strategic positioning for our company in the current landscape, with many business opportunities for us, and we’re just excited about the road ahead.”

Grzegorz Nowakowski, CEO of SoftPos.eu, commented: “Worldline was the first major player to believe in SoftPos, its team and its product. Back in 2020 when we were launching our co-operation, the market for app-based terminals was much smaller than it is now. From the very first day we felt that only with support from a strong strategic partner we will seize the full opportunity to grow. Now we can clearly see that we were right. We are extremely happy that the appreciation was mutual, and we have come to this investment stage. SoftPos.eu has built an advanced but easy-to-use technology already actively used by multiple merchants of all sizes across Europe. Having Worldline as our strategic investor means strong support both in further product development as well as sales to other markets and merchants.”

Howard Polinski, Managing Partner at P2 Invest, commented: “I am very happy that vision of Grzegorz and Biser supported by investment by P2 Invest, have resulted in creating a technology and market leader, whereas it acquisition by Worldline is the best proof of our joint success. I am convinced that acquisition of SoftPos will further strengthen Worldline’s leadership position in the payments area.”