{"id":25399,"date":"2021-07-24T04:49:43","date_gmt":"2021-07-24T04:49:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rbsitsoftwaresolution.com\/blog\/payments-company-paystone-raises-23-8m-to-help-service-based-businesses-engage-with-customers.html"},"modified":"2021-07-24T04:49:43","modified_gmt":"2021-07-24T04:49:43","slug":"payments-company-paystone-raises-23-8m-to-help-service-based-businesses-engage-with-customers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rbsitsoftwaresolution.in\/blog\/payments-company-paystone-raises-23-8m-to-help-service-based-businesses-engage-with-customers.html","title":{"rendered":"Payments company Paystone raises $23.8M to help service-based businesses engage with customers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paystone<\/a>, a payments and integrated software company, secured another strategic investment this year, this time $23.8 million ($30 million CAD) from Cr\u00e9dit Mutuel Equity, the private equity arm of Cr\u00e9dit Mutuel Alliance F\u00e9d\u00e9rale.<\/p>\n

The Canada-based company got its start in 2008 as the payment processing company Zomaron, and rebranded itself as Paystone<\/a> in 2019. Today it provides electronic payments and customer engagement technology to businesses, particularly those that provide services, CEO Tarique Al-Ansari told TechCrunch.<\/p>\n

\u201cPaystone is on a mission to help businesses grow, and we were enthralled by their commitment to that mission and their focus on service-oriented verticals,\u201d said L\u00e9a Perge, investor at Cr\u00e9dit Mutuel Equity in Canada, via email.<\/p>\n

While most of the company\u2019s peers focus on product companies, Al-Ansari saw how underserved the service side was: their needs are different, and unlike retail, aren\u2019t looking to sell online. Rather, they need an online presence and digital marketing to engage with customers, but their focus is being findable and having content that tells people why they should do business with them.<\/p>\n

Paystone provides the marketing through content, help with reviews and with loyalty and rewards programs. However, rather than reward for spending, Paystone rewards for behavior. Refer a friend, get a reward. Write a review, get a reward. Al-Ansari calls it \u201cpayments as a benefit.\u201d Referrals and reviews are how businesses become more findable, and the more content that\u2019s out there, the more it helps people consider the business trustworthy, he added.<\/p>\n

The new funding gives Canada-based Paystone total funds raised in 2021 of $78.8 million in a mix of debt and equity. It raised $54.9 million in January, funds that were barely touched as of yet, Al-Ansari said.<\/p>\n

Though he wasn\u2019t actively seeking new funds, Al-Ansari had been speaking with Cr\u00e9dit Mutuel Equity, which used to be CIC Capital Canada, prior to the pandemic, and their deal was put on hold.<\/p>\n

Cr\u00e9dit Mutuel Equity came back with similar interest, and taking into account the kind of talent Paystone wanted to go after and its acquisition strategy \u2014 the company has already acquired five companies \u2014 Al-Ansari decided to take the additional funds. He said it gives the company options to hire more and double down on building the company, as well as enough capital to look for more acquisitions.<\/p>\n

This year, Paystone entered the U.S. market for the first time and will do a proper launch later this year. The company has over 30,000 merchant locations on its platform throughout North America, and Al-Ansari expects that to grow by 5,000 this year. The company has 150 employees currently, and another 50 are expected to come on board by the end of the year.<\/p>\n

In addition, Al-Ansari expects growth to accelerate for the rest of the year. The company processes around $6 billion in credit card payments and is on track to bring in $55.7 million in revenue this year. It is cash flow positive, residuals from the company\u2019s origins of being bootstrapped, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to become the go-to destination for service businesses to set up a digital presence to accept payments and provide loyalty and rewards,\u201d Al-Ansari said. \u201cWe will do this by solidifying our market position and growing our platform with the tools that customers want.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Customer feedback is a development opportunity<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Article source: http:\/\/feedproxy.google.com\/~r\/techcrunchIt\/~3\/sywCUNk0Rjo\/<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Paystone, a payments and integrated software company, secured another strategic investment this year, this time $23.8 million ($30 million CAD) from Cr\u00e9dit Mutuel Equity, the private equity arm of Cr\u00e9dit <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[19],"tags":[25],"class_list":["post-25399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-enterprise-software","tag-enterprise"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t