T-Online Venture Fund has made a 10% investment in the Zug, Switzerland-based company FIRSTGATE Holding AG, owner of Europe's market leader in Internet payment services, Click&Buy.
The Fund is taking advantage of the opportunities resulting from the existing cooperation between Click&Buy and Deutsche Telekom; this cooperation is to be further expanded. In particular, plans have been made to market the broadly diversified portfolio of Deutsche Telekom's services and products internationally, including the U.S. and Latin America
Click&Buy makes it possible for providers to outsource complex billing for paid content, services and goods. The system handles both billing in various currencies and the processing of credit cards, direct debit as well as the 40 most commonly used payment systems in Europe, including phone billing.
Many well-known providers, such as T-Online Musicload, Electronic Arts and Meetic use Click&Buy's payment service throughout Europe. In Germany the best known Click&Buy customer is Stiftung Warentest, which sells current test reports, for example of digital cameras. Leading European media companies also bill with Click&Buy, e.g., Independent, La Tribune, Gazzetta dello Sport, Telecinco, Financial Times Deutschland.
One of the keys to the success of Click&Buy is a fraud prevention system, which protects both the customers and the providers of Click&Buy against Internet fraud. Many customers like to use Click&Buy because of the high security standards, which have been certified by the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI). But Click&Buy's popularity is also due to how quick and easy it is to use.
In addition to expanding the business relationship between T-Pay, the online payment system by T-Com, and Click&Buy, the companies plan is to achieve interoperability. In the future, this will open up the possibility for T-Pay, one of the leading German payment systems, to offer payment of T-Com bills through Click&Buy as well.
"For T-Pay, achieving interoperability between the two systems will expand its international reach by allowing foreign providers to offer their customers the possibility to use T-Pay as a payment system," says Volker Nussbaumer, Value Added Solutions Manager at T-Com. More than 40 million telephone customers will then have the opportunity to pay simply, safely and quickly with T-Pay through Click&Buy. Click&Buy already has more than six million regular customers around the world. T-Pay and Click&Buy, with more than 6,000 linked stores, are the most successful Internet invoicing systems in Germany and Europe.
Jens Becker, Finance Board of Director of the T-Online business unit in the strategic business segment Broadband/Landlines of Deutsche Telekom AG and Director of the Investment Committee of the T-Online Venture Fund, explains: "We are convinced that Telekom's offerings can be marketed even more attractively with the help of Click&Buy. Click&Buy's leading position in Europe will be of critical importance, particularly in our international online expansion. The broadband boom and consumer enthusiasm for music downloads and games will further accelerate growth."
Norbert Stangl, Founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Click&Buy, says: "The entry of a partner like T-Online Venture Fund underscores our importance and supports our path as the European market leader set on global expansion. We expect Click&Buy to experience explosive sales growth. In particular, Click&Buy will be able to further intensify its international expansion in Europe, the US and Latin America."