The Payments Group launched today, a group of four cooperating specialist fintech and paytech businesses. TPG brands operate in a combined 190 countries, are used for payments on tens of thousands of apps/websites, and its cash services are available at 550,000 physical retail locations worldwide.
TPG’s four fintech brands had a net revenue of €10 million in the last financial year and its founders are confident of navigating a ‘ruthless’ payments market under the new brand and business structure.
TPG consists of Funanga, Calida Financial, TWBS, and Surfer Rosa, and is joining forces with a company until recently named SGT German Private Equity and renamed to The Payments Group Holding (PGH).
TPG offers a comprehensive range of online payment services, including embedded financial services, prepaid technologies, and global payment and payout solutions. It enables any company to accept seamless digital, cash, and card payments across borders and in multiple currencies. It provides truly embedded and seamless 360-degree payment service which ensure end users never have to leave their chosen site/service/app to make a payment - which is the biggest point of friction in the payment journey.
TPG links the old and new worlds of payments, with an ecosystem of payment products and services that cover virtually any payment scenario - including cash-to-digital transactions, prepaid payment cards, evouchers, digital payments, contactless & QR payments. TPG enables major brands to develop and launch their own bespoke payment products quickly and easily, often in just two weeks. Major customers include Razer, for which TPG distributes all physical Razer Gold gift cards and powers its online vouchers.
“No one cares how payments work. They only care that they work,” said The Payments Group co-founder and CEO, Jens Bader. “There is no brand loyalty, and it is a ruthless market. If a customer experiences any friction, they abandon their purchase. The minute you fall behind the market standards, merchants look elsewhere. This may sound daunting, but we are obsessive about payments, and we are built to thrive in harsh conditions.”
“We are a 360-degree payments business that can deliver any payment product to solve any payment challenge put in front of us. Even though we are new to the market as TPG, we already have everything we need to become a major player in payments 3.0. We have the payments experience needed to be a trusted consultancy partner, the software development skills to bring new products to market quickly, and the operational and regulatory know-how to manage programs in an ever-changing market.”
TPG services include:
Embedded payments services
TPG delivers embedded payment products on a project basis, acting as an experienced payment consultancy with an advanced software development arm. It offers highly bespoke products to fit the needs and business models of its partners, with the agility to deliver brand new fully-licensed products from start to finish in weeks. These products can include white-labelled e wallets, payment processing, virtual IBANs and backend systems. Unlike other payment partners that stitch together multiple third-party services and redirect customers to a payment service, TPG’s white label programs are an all one service. This means that the customer never leaves the app/site/program during the payment process.
Bespoke prepaid programs
TPG develops and manages an array of pre-paid programs for merchants including gift cards, vouchers, prepaid payment cards. This includes being the exclusive payment partner of Razer Gold, the gift-card scheme from video game giant, Razer. Every Razer Gold voucher sold in Europe is sold via TPG. TPG prepaid programs can be closed or open loop, giving merchants flexibility to strictly control the kinds of payments they receive.
Cash payments
Cash remains an essential part of the global payments mix, and is the most popular and inclusive payment method worldwide. The popular CashtoCode service operated by Funanga (now TPG) enables customers to top up their pre-paid cards and digital accounts using cash at more than 550,000 petrol stations, newsagents, supermarkets, and other Point of Sale locations. It can be used by anyone with access to a smartphone or computer, as a secure, reliable payment solution for cash-first customers and the unbanked. For merchants, TPG makes it easy to integrate a cash solution into their wider payment strategy and appeal to cash-first customers.