eBay Classifieds Attracts Interest From Axel Springer

A new suitor has emerged for eBay Inc.’s classified advertising business, the Financial Times reported. Axel Springer, the German-based digital publishing house that is backed by KKR & Co., a global investment firm with offices in New York, has submitted an initial bid for the eBay division. Prior to COVID-19, it was expected that a deal for the classifieds unit could be worth up to $10 billion. eBay could decide as soon as next week who reaches the next round, the sources said. The San Jose, California-based company reported revenues of $2.4 billion in the first quarter of 2020, down 2 percent from the same period one year ago. eBay shares rose by 2.3 percent at the close on Friday (May 22), according to Yahoo! Finance. Analysts say that if the deal is signed, it could be among the largest transactions of the year in Europe between private equity firms.

Spotlight

Other News
Restaurant POS

MarginEdge Streamlines Brewery Operations with Arryved POS Integration

MarginEdge | February 27, 2024

MarginEdge, an industry leader in restaurant management solutions, is proud to announce a new integration with Arryved, the craft beverage industry’s most trusted point of sale system. This collaboration introduces seamless POS integration, empowering Arryved users with accurate sales entries in MarginEdge. As breweries diversify, especially those emphasizing on-premise sales, the partnership between Arryved and MarginEdge offers a powerful solution for streamlined and comprehensive financial management. Eric Jeffay, Director of Partnerships at MarginEdge, expressed the significance of this partnership, stating, “Brewery operators run incredibly complex businesses with multiple sales channels. Our integration with Arryved marks a pivotal moment for breweries seeking a cohesive end-to-end solution to organize brewery, scratch-kitchen, and on-premise consumption operations.” Key Highlights of MarginEdge’s Arryved POS Integration Effortless POS Integration for Breweries MarginEdge’s integration with Arryved’s POS system ensures a seamless connection, creating a unified workflow tailored to the unique needs of breweries, offering a comprehensive solution for enhanced operational efficiency. Synced Sales Data Accuracy The integration enables efficient syncing of sales data from Arryved’s POS system to MarginEdge, eliminating manual errors and ensuring timely and accurate financial reporting. Brewery operators can now rely on precise and balanced sales entries for informed decision-making. Overall Efficiency for Brewery Workflows MarginEdge’s integration ensures a true end-to-end solution for operators. Sales data from Arryved is seamlessly exported into MarginEdge, facilitating cost analysis and providing valuable insights into product usage. The comprehensive sales and product data are then effortlessly exported into various integrated accounting software, ensuring seamless operations for operators. “We are excited to welcome MarginEdge into our expanding ecosystem of high-value tech integrations,” said Arryved’s CEO Loren Bendele. “MarginEdge shares our commitment to helping breweries and other craft establishments run strong, profitable businesses and this integration provides Arryved users’ with an enhanced and automated way to get real-time sales data for food cost reporting and analysis.” “By joining forces with Arryved, we are not just integrating POS systems; we are elevating the brewery experience. This collaboration underscores our dedication to providing brewery operators with the tools they need to succeed in a competitive market,” added Jeffay. MarginEdge anticipates the positive impact this integration will have on the brewery landscape, solidifying its reputation as a pioneering force in restaurant and brewery management solutions. About MarginEdge MarginEdge’s mission is to create a world where restaurant operators can focus on the business they love. By using best-in-class technology to eliminate unproductive paperwork and streamline the flow of operational data, MarginEdge is reimagining the back office and freeing restaurants to spend more time on their culinary offerings and guest experiences. The platform offers market-leading invoice processing, inventory management, recipe analysis, budgeting, performance tracking and supplier bill payment capabilities. Founded by industry veterans, MarginEdge serves a diverse group of operators from single units and small chains to large franchise and hospitality groups, providing a high impact product that resonates across the hospitality industry. About Arryved Arryved, Inc. is the craft beverage industry’s most trusted point of sale, providing a flexible, mobile system that allows staff to take orders from anywhere, ensuring exceptional service. With profit-friendly pricing, robust reporting insights, and award-winning support, Arryved is designed for bars, breweries, cideries, restaurants, and distilleries. Founded by tech enthusiasts with extensive experience in the service sector, Arryved’s team-centric platform prioritizes service, elevates guest experiences, and offers easily digestible insights for informed decisions.

Read More

POS Solutions

Agilysys Provides On-Site Premier POS Service to Ensure Exceptional Fan Experiences at The Australian Open Tennis Tournament

Agilysys | January 23, 2024

Agilysys, Inc., a leading global provider of hospitality software solutions and services, announced it is providing on-site premier support for the InfoGenesis point-of-sale (POS) system at Melbourne & Olympic Parks to ensure the 900,000-plus people expected to attend the 2024 Australian Open enjoy their food and beverage experiences. As host to a variety of popular sports and entertainment events throughout the year, and as one of the largest and most diverse multi-purpose sporting, entertainment, conference and community precincts in Australia, Melbourne & Olympic Parks holds claim to the Australian Open, the first of four Grand Slam level tennis tournaments held each season. With more than 900,000 people expected to attend the 2024 tournament, the venue requires a fast, robust and reliable POS system to smoothly manage the high volume of orders and transactions and to ensure an exceptional fan experience at every interaction. To prepare for delivering exceptional service to Australian Open fans, hundreds of InfoGenesis POS terminals are strategically placed in concession stands throughout the venue to shorten lines and wait times. With an increased focus on the convenience of mobile concession ordering and delivery and the security of contactless payments, Agilysys’ IG OnDemand solution has been made available so fans can use their mobile devices to place and receive orders wherever they are around the 40-hectare venue, and for the venue to accept and track cashless transactions. In addition, Agilysys POS experts and service teams are on-site throughout the two-week-long Australian Open to provide instant assistance and ensure optimal system efficiency and performance under heightened demand. "Augmenting support during times of intensified system demand, such as what occurs during high-attendance events, is just one way we demonstrate our Serious About Service commitment,” said Agilysys Vice President of Client Services for APAC Ajoy Meenakshisundaram. Meenakshisundaram added, “By delivering system implementation, performance optimization and signature service directly, rather than outsourcing to others, we gain deep insights into how our customers operate and their unique requirements, especially in times of peak demand. World-class venues like Melbourne & Olympic Parks count on innovative solutions such as InfoGenesis tailored to meet their unique fan experience requirements and delivered by a global trusted advisor focused on hospitality-driven businesses.” About Agilysys Agilysys exclusively delivers state-of-the-art software solutions and services that help organizations achieve High Return Hospitality™ by maximizing Return on Experience (ROE) through interactions that make ‘personal’ profitable. Customers around the world use Agilysys Property Management Systems (PMS), Point-of-Sale (POS) solutions and Inventory and Procurement (I&P) systems to consistently delight guests, retain staff and grow margins. Agilysys’ 100% hospitality customer base includes branded and independent hotels; multi-amenity resorts; casinos; property, hotel and resort management companies; cruise lines; corporate dining providers; higher education campus dining providers; food service management companies; hospitals; lifestyle communities; senior living facilities; stadiums; and theme parks. www.agilysys.com

Read More

POS Solutions

Ingenico partners with Cybersource to enable secured unified commerce solution

Ingenico | January 25, 2024

Ingenico, a global leader in payment acceptance and services, has announced a strategic partnership with Cybersource, Visa's agnostic global payment and fraud management platform. The partnership will create a global unified commerce solution for use in Asia Pacific first, followed by other regions. The partnership integrates the AXIUM application developed by Ingenico on the Cybersource open payment platform. This collaboration delivers an efficient, ready-to-use commerce solution to authorize in-store card transaction process across geographies, all on one platform. AXIUM, Ingenico's versatile payment acceptance solution, features advanced smart Point-of-Sale (POS) terminals powered by Android, along with a suite of business applications. It provides robust security, and comprehensive customer support. Its application, built on Cybersource's platform is portable across different AXIUM devices, making it easier to scale without going through lengthy certification processes for each new device. Cybersource is part of Visa Acceptance Solutions, which allows on-demand pre-integrated global scale services on an open acceptance platform. This connectivity hub provides acquirers, Independent Service Providers (ISVs), and merchants access to the building blocks they need to create seamless commerce experiences that can scale their businesses, keep their customers happy, and make them future-ready. The synergy between Ingenico and Cybersource aims to reduce costs and complexities of technical integrations, increase speed to market, and provide omni-channel capabilities that align with the evolving needs of both businesses and consumers in the in-store commerce space. Today, acquirers spend most of their resources maintaining an in-house platform that processes transaction authorization flow and POS device certification. The unified commerce solution eliminates the need for a separate platform which enables acquirers to focus on card clearance and settlement with real-time transaction visibility and data analytics. It also allows them to expand to new merchant segments by leveraging both partners' ecosystems and investing in capabilities that will drive growth in the future. For ISVs providing value-added services, the API-driven capability of this unified commerce platform provides them the ease of integrating payment solutions into their business applications quickly. They can also leverage a list of acquirers already integrated with the platform, extending scalability of their business across different geographies. For merchants, the platform provides a seamless solution across different markets without the need to rebuild different applications for each acquirer in every market. Merchants could also leverage Ingenico's managed solutions that have a strong regional presence and partnerships globally. Nigel Lee, Chief Customer Officer of Ingenico, said, "We are thrilled to partner with Visa to forge a path towards a more integrated and complete payment ecosystem. Combining the global reach of Visa and Ingenico and using the Ingenico Android technology stack, will accelerate innovation and reduce complexity. We believe together we can reduce time to market for customers and allow our clients and partners to realize the benefits of a truly unified omnichannel solution. This is a significant step in our vision to move commerce forward by harnessing the collective strengths of our combined technologies and networks." Dan Parsons, Head of Cybersource, Asia Pacific, said: "As an open payments platform with global reach, we have created a new era of partnership and collaboration that will foster a whole new wave of innovation. Our strategic partnership with Ingenico will enable us to provide pre-integrated and innovative payment solutions to our clients and partners. This will empower businesses to deliver a unified commerce experience to meet evolving consumer expectations while enabling them to scale their business more efficiently." This strategic partnership will further extend to Ingenico's Tap-to-Phone technology with Cybersource integration, enabling new payment use cases. Together, we are looking to create the payment experiences of tomorrow, where clients and partners can enjoy frictionless experiences with the most innovative payment solutions. About Cybersource At Cybersource, we know payments. We helped kick start the eCommerce revolution in 1994 and haven't looked back since. Through global reach, modern capabilities, and commerce insights, we create flexible, creative commerce solutions for everyday life - experiences that delight your customers and spur growth globally. All through the ease and simplicity of one digital platform to manage all your payment types, fraud strategies, and more. For more information, please visit cybersource.com. About Ingenico Ingenico is the global leader in payment acceptance and services. We support our customers, and their customers to do more with payments. Active in 37 countries, with over 3,500 employees we have been at the forefront of the commerce landscape for over four decades. With more than 40 million payment devices deployed worldwide, powered by over 2,500 apps, the company is servicing the needs of millions of consumers everyday. Through our advanced integrated solutions and network of partnerships, we simplify the world of payments and bring value add services to move commerce forward.

Read More

POS Solutions

Finastra's Filogix unveils automated lender note capabilities, powered by Gen AI

Finastra | February 21, 2024

Finastra's Filogix team has unveiled new generative AI (Gen AI) capabilities in its Expert Pro Canadian Mortgage Point of Sale (POS) solution. The function automates the creation of borrower narratives (notes) that aids in lender underwriting – streamlining processes, saving time and minimizing errors for brokers. With just a single click, users can generate a comprehensive summary of the mortgage deal, covering all the relevant criteria. The content can be reviewed, edited and then sent for underwriting much faster, as compared to the traditional manual process. Content can be auto-composed in English or French, and brokers can choose the format and which elements of the mortgage application to include for a more tailored and personalized experience. Jonathan Wootten, Head of Filogix at Finastra said, "We're very proud of this significant milestone. As a leader in financial technology solutions, we are committed to harnessing the power of Gen AI to enhance our own business processes, as well as to bringing exciting innovations to our customers. In our recent annual survey, 83% of financial services professionals said that their institution is interested in Gen AI. This mirrors the enthusiasm we see in the marketplace for the new functionality in our Expert Pro solution for brokers. We look forward to continuing to bring our customers opportunities to tap into the innovative and transformative technology that is Gen AI." The Auto-Compose functionality has a secure private model at the core, which stands out from other systems built around public models. Filogix Expert Pro allows mortgage professionals to centralize their business through workflow optimization, resulting in improved consumer experience, more time to manage new opportunities, and funding deals faster. Click here for more information. About Filogix Filogix has served as the hub of the Canadian mortgage industry for almost two decades, offering secure, reliable connectivity to brokers and lenders. It provides trusted mortgage lending products, that enable the effective management of the sales process from origination through underwriting. As the mortgage landscape continues to change, Filogix is prioritizing advances to support the industry into the future. It is investing in a more open infrastructure and building connectivity to create a complete mortgage marketplace, helping mortgage professionals do business with more choice, speed and reliability than ever before. About Finastra Finastra is a global provider of financial software applications and marketplaces, and launched the leading open platform for innovation, FusionFabric.cloud, in 2017. It serves institutions of all sizes, providing award-winning software solutions and services across Lending, Payments, Treasury & Capital Markets and Universal Banking (Retail, Digital and Commercial Banking) for banks to support direct banking relationships and grow through indirect channels, such as embedded finance and Banking as a Service. Its pioneering approach and commitment to open finance and collaboration is why it is trusted by over 8,000 institutions, including 45 of the world's top 50 banks.

Read More