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POS SOLUTIONS
Thumbtack | March 17, 2023
Thumbtack, the modern home management platform, is making its first foray into retail. Thumbtack has rolled out branded displays throughout more than 300 H-E-B stores across Texas that allow H-E-B customers to scan a QR code to find and access local pet service providers while shopping. Available pet services include dog walking, grooming, pet sitting, training, and more.
This is Thumbtack’s first move into physical retail, with the goal of meeting consumers where they are. As the only platform people need to care for everything in and around their homes, Thumbtack is excited to expand its physical footprint in the year ahead, kicking off with beloved Texas retailer H-E-B.
“Thumbtack’s job is to make caring for everything in and around the home a seamless experience for the homeowner,” said David Steckel, Senior Director of Strategic Partnerships at Thumbtack. “Expanding into physical retail brings us one step closer to that by allowing us to be a partner for consumers whether they’re shopping in-store for their pets or getting their backyards ready for hosting.”
In addition to launching pet services, Thumbtack is offering its Thumbtack On-Demand feature in select H-E-B stores, which allows consumers to find and hire local handyman, lawn care and cleaning services at a 10% discount. The initiative makes home services professionals available to H-E-B customers so that Thumbtack can help people seamlessly care for their homes.
About Thumbtack
Thumbtack is a technology leader building the modern home management platform. Through the Thumbtack app, homeowners can effortlessly manage their homes — confidently knowing what to do, when to do it, and who to hire. Bringing the $600 billion home services industry online, Thumbtack empowers millions of homeowners to fix, maintain, and improve their most valuable asset. Hundreds of thousands of local service professionals, from painters and plumbers to photographers and more, use the Thumbtack platform to grow their businesses each year. The company is backed by Sequoia Capital, Tiger Global Management, Javelin Venture Partners, Baillie Gifford, and CapitalG, among others.
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RESTAURANT POS
Businessiwire | May 23, 2023
SpotOn, the top-rated software and payments partner for restaurants, today unveiled the new SpotOn Restaurant, which combines the #1 rated restaurant point-of-sale software with a suite of proprietary, patent-pending hardware designed by SpotOn to flex to the unique needs of each restaurant. The new SpotOn Restaurant was built for efficiency, reliability, and ease of use, making it easier for restaurant staff to deliver a seamless experience for their guests.
As a majority of restaurant operators describe their restaurant's technology as lagging rather than leading*, SpotOn set out to build a suite of premium hardware to meet the evolving needs of a modern restaurant. This includes the 15.6” Station, the 10” Counter, and the 6.5” Handheld, designed with input from highly-respected restaurant owners and operators in SpotOn’s Restaurant Advisory Council.
“The industry is evolving quickly, so it was critical that we worked with our clients and Restaurant Advisory Council members to design a suite of hardware that responds to the real needs of the modern restaurateur,” said Bryan Solar, Chief Product Officer of SpotOn. “With their collaboration, we designed devices that are sleek and subtle with the flexibility to adapt to the unique needs of each environment. We also put a lot of focus on helping to streamline service, making it easier for staff to deliver better, faster, more personalized service to their guests.”
• Station, the 15.6” point-of-sale features a large, ultra-durable HD touchscreen with a slender design that makes it quick and easy for servers to input orders from large menus with many modifiers while maintaining a small footprint and discreet design. The Station is offered in multiple configurations, including an attached or detached guest-facing display, base payment reader, or side-mounted payment reader, all featuring contactless and dip payments technology.
• Counter, the 10” point-of-sale is ideal for counter-service restaurants and cafes with limited counter space and smaller menus. The Counter offers contactless and dip payments technology and an optional guest-facing display to help improve speed and accuracy.
• Handheld, the 6.5” mobile point-of-sale features an 18% larger touchscreen display designed to increase the speed of service and comes with a leather hand strap for easy handling. The Handheld features integrated contactless and dip payments technology, enabling seamless tableside payment with a screen that automatically flips to face the guest. Operators can choose to include a laser scanner for loyalty sign-ups and redemptions.
Based on input from its clients and advisors, SpotOn prioritized efficiency, reliability, and ease of use for restaurant staff and guests alike. Other important factors cited by clients and built into the hardware include device footprint, screen size, durability, and a discreet, streamlined design.
Greater Speed & Efficiency
As restaurants continue to face rising labor costs and narrow profit margins, 58% of operators say using technology and automation to help with the current labor challenges will become more common in their segment*. SpotOn’s guest-facing display on the Station and Counter gives restaurants the ability to boost order accuracy, speed up checkout, and build a guest database through loyalty sign-ups and redemption. The new Handheld helps servers turn tables faster with a larger screen that simplifies menu navigation, plus an ergonomic design and tilt feature for quicker bill presentation and payment.
Increased Reliability & Durability
The design of SpotOn Restaurant allows for direct connections between all devices, increasing successful processing and decreasing transaction time, while the new hardware features high-definition touch screens designed for the toughest restaurant environments with an IP54 rating - providing protection against drink spills and dust. In addition to upgraded hardware reliability, SpotOn Restaurant has an industry-leading customer support team, including a local account executive and an implementation team to set up the technology right from the start. SpotOn clients also have access to 24/7/365 support from real people ready to troubleshoot questions - day or night.
Improved Ease of Use
With 89% of operators citing labor costs as a concern* and a consistent 5-6% hospitality quit rate+, restaurant technology must be easy to use and quick to learn for new staff. SpotOn complemented its intuitive software design with a 15” inch screen on the Station, making it easier than ever to quickly navigate complex menus and modifiers. Following input from clients, the Handheld was designed to be 6% smaller with an 18% larger screen for easier handling. The Handheld user interface has also been upgraded to group menu items for easier navigation, enable search, view floor plan, and check table statuses.
“When you’re operating high-volume restaurants, every minute counts,” said Benson Wang, Owner of Palm House Hospitality and member of SpotOn’s Restaurant Advisory Council. “The upgraded SpotOn Handheld with larger screens will make a major difference in speed and accuracy, making it easier for our team and giving them more time to focus on our guests.”
SpotOn will begin rolling out its new SpotOn Restaurant hardware in Q4. As part of the rollout, SpotOn is partnering with FIS to become a payment facilitator, providing more end-to-end control of payment processing for its clients. This will also open up tokenization, giving SpotOn clients a more in-depth view of their customers' preferences and purchasing habits to provide a more personalized experience.
As more than 40% of operators* plan to ramp up investments in equipment or technology to increase productivity, the new SpotOn Restaurant will be available to help restaurants streamline operations, cut costs, improve staffing efficiency, and deliver a great guest experience.
About SpotOn
SpotOn is one of the leading software and payment companies with comprehensive, cloud-based technology for businesses of all types and sizes. Known for its rapid innovation and personalized support, SpotOn offers an end-to-end software and payment platform to streamline operations, improve the customer experience, and increase profit. From seamless and efficient point-of-sale systems to integrated management solutions built for the fast-growing enterprise, SpotOn builds technology that "works the way you work" and backs it up with a 24/7 team of experts who make sure it always does—with fairness, flexibility, and a personal touch. SpotOn has 2,000 employees, including one of the strongest product and technology teams in the combined software & payments industry.
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POS RETAIL
Globenewswire | May 02, 2023
Innovative Payment Solutions, Inc. (OTCQB: IPSI) (“IPSI” or the “Company”), a fintech provider of robust and proprietary digital payment platforms that enable transfers of money by means of convenient, cost effective fast and secure systems, today announced that it has entered into a new line of business called IPSIPay ExpressTM, a three-way joint venture with payment industry veterans OpenPath and eFinityPay to develop and market a proprietary consumer to merchant real time payment platform initially focused on the fast growing online gaming and entertainment sectors.
IPSIPay Express will provide merchants with a technology for payment processing that allows for seamless, secure, and instantaneous transactions, in real time bank-to-bank account transfers (from customer bank account to merchant bank account) at costs lower than those currently available from credit or debit card processors. The proprietary technology incorporated into IPSIPay Express will also seek to end losses due to “friendly fraud” and substantially reduce consumer chargebacks, all of which are expected to provide significant value to merchants and operators in the online gaming and entertainment sectors.
Importantly, IPSI believes that the IPSIPay Express business should be ready for launch and could begin to generate revenue for IPSI during 2023. IPSI expects to use any revenue from IPSIPay Express to fund the continuing commercialization and development efforts for its flagship IPSIPay mobile app and for working capital.
OpenPath, headquartered in Irvine, California provides payment solutions to companies processing large volumes of online payments. Scott C. Dorey, OpenPath’s CEO, stated: “We are very pleased to partner with IPSI and eFinityPay in this promising new venture. We believe the innovative payment technology that will be at the core of IPSIPay Express will be a game changer for merchants operating in so-called “high-risk” industries like online gaming and entertainment. The IPSIPay Express account-to-account solution is in high demand by those merchants as it dramatically reduces chargebacks, processing costs and funding time for merchants. We look forward to launching IPSIPay Express to merchants on the OpenPath platform.”
eFinityPay, founded by CEO Franklin Levy and based in Los Angeles, California, specializes in delivering stable merchant processing solutions to ecommerce merchants in the online casino, sportsbook, entertainment, and video gaming businesses.
As part of the joint venture, OpenPath will market IPSIPay Express to its existing and future merchant customers; eFinityPay will be responsible for developing and incorporating the online payment technology into IPSIPay Express as well as marketing to its substantial network or merchants in the targeted fields; and IPSI will be responsible for providing banking contacts to IPSIPay Express as well as potential access to new capital to support the IPSIPay Express business. IPSI is eligible to receive up to one-third interest in IPSIPay Express by contributing up to $1.5 million of capital to the joint venture by the end of this year.
William Corbett, IPSI’s Chairman and CEO commented, “We are excited by the new opportunities IPSIPay Express will provide for us. We believe this joint venture has the potential to diversify our revenue channels and provide payment solutions to an online gaming and entertainment segment that is growing and generating tens of billions of dollars in revenue annually. The IPSIPay Express alternative payment platform, combined with OpenPath and eFinityPay’s considerable experience and relationships with the biggest merchants in the gaming and entertainment industries, should help drive growth at IPSIPay Express. In addition, IPSIPay Express will provide a simple, secure, and easy to use payment experience. We anticipate this will enable the Joint Venture to gain wide acceptance by online merchants and their customers. This new venture with experienced partners, will expedite our path to revenue, and allow us to drive the continuing launch and development of our flagship IPSIPay app.”
Additional details about the joint venture will be provided in a Current Report on Form 8-K to be filed by IPSI with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
About Innovative Payment Solutions, Inc.
Innovative Payment Solutions, Inc. (OTCQB: IPSI) is a cutting-edge provider of digital payment and other solutions for both business owners and consumers, focusing on the needs of the unbanked and underserved. Through its IPSIPay® App and Beyond Wallet offerings, IPSI facilitates instantaneous cross-border remittances by companies and individuals, using its robust technology platform to enable digital transactions that are convenient, cost effective, fast, and secure. IPSIPay® App users can acquire VISA debit cards, as well as obtain a bank account at a major U.S. institution, enabling them to execute financial transactions through IPSI’s large, worldwide merchant network. IPSI is also a joint venture partner in IPSIPay Express, a new business aiming to provide proprietary payment solutions to markets including online gaming and entertainment.
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