Payscape and NXGEN to Merge; UK OK with PayPal iZettle Acquisition: News Roundup

PaymentFacilitator’s News Roundup is a curated mix of the past week’s news and articles from around the web, including company announcements, global payments news, and other coverage and analysis of topics relevant to payment facilitators.

PAYPAL’S GROWTH PLAY

Why did PayPal make a mega-investment in Uber? In a word: growth. The size of PayPal’s $500 million investment in Uber is a sign of its ambition to grow globally. Combined with its investment in MercadoLibre earlier this year, the deal helps the company compete with the online payments offerings from giants such as Alibaba, Tencent, Google and Amazon. From CNBC.

Or maybe it’s about growth. Taking the same topic from a slightly different angle, this article focuses on the growth enabled by the “network effect” for PayPal of tying in with a high-growth marketplace platform like Uber. From TechCrunch.

INVESTMENTS IN INDIA

It’s all good. In a wide-ranging interview, Visa President Ryan McInerney expresses enthusiasm for India’s data localization rules, its government’s efforts to create a level playing field, and the opportunity to invest in, partner with or acquire innovative fintech companies there. From ET Tech.

Amazon Pay provides P2P. Amazon Pay has launched peer-to-peer payments for Android in India, but is it too late? The service is built on India’s UPI platform, and the company hopes it will help bring customers into the Amazon fold. But rivals such as Paytm and Google Pay are already there. From TechCrunch.

FINTECH FORWARD

Power to the SMBs. In a merger backed by Parthenon Capital Partners, NXGEN and Payscape are joining forces. The combined company expects to process more than $10 billion annually across more than 30 countries, creating a “powerhouse” to serve small and medium-sized businesses. From PYMNTS.

YayProfile. Providing a solution to automate handling of accounts receivable items landed software provider YayPay on CFO’s Tech Companies to Watch list. According to this profile, as is often the case, the idea for the company started with the co-founder looking for something to solve one of his own challenges – getting paid on time. From CFO.

Sharing the QR code love. Delivering on a promise to cooperate on payments through a technology exchange, Singapore’s Nets is giving Myanmar’s unified QR code payments platform a boost. Nets plans to share technical knowledge gained from building a platform to enable a standardized QR code across systems in Singapore, so Myanmar can deploy its own similar platform. From The Straits Times.

INDUSTRY NEWS

Infinicept: Infinicept’s Payment Facilitator Platform Powers Fivestars Pay, a Multi-Tender Payments Service for Local Businesses That Integrate Payments with Customer Loyalty

PayPal: UK Competition & Markets Authority Provisionally Clears PayPal’s Completed Acquisition of iZettle

Agreement Express: Agreement Express and Paya Services Launch Unified Application for Merchant Acquisition

EVO Payments: EVO Payments Agrees to Acquire SF Systems’ Payment Gateway

Masabi: Masabi Secures $20M to Accelerate Global Growth and Put Public Transit Ticketing into Leading Ride Hailing, Journey Planning and Mobility-as-a-Service Apps

New York Department of Financial Services: Acting DFS Superintendent Lacewell Announces Appointment of Katherine Lemire as Executive Deputy Superintendent of Newly Created Consumer Protection & Enforcement Division

BlueSnap: BlueSnap Launches New “Integrated Payments for Platforms” Product to Accelerate ISV Growth Ahead of ETA Transact

Infinicept: Fintech Innovators Team to Create Powerful Payment Facilitator Acceptance Solutions to Meet Growing Demand

REPAY: REPAY Expands into Canada

PAX: PAX and BridgePay Combine Forces to Offer the ISV Market a New EMV Certified Payment Solution

Paytm: We Have Launched Recurring Payments for Online Merchants

Shopify: Marketing in Shopify Expands with New Features

Stripe: Stripe Billing Launches in Europe to Power Subscription Companies Across the Continent