Mastercard announced last week that it has agreed to acquire Vyze for an undisclosed amount. The Austin, Texas-based fintech company provides online and brick-and-mortar retailers with the capability to offer customers credit options at the point of sale. For Mastercard, this acquisition gives the financial services giant a quick and easy entry into the blossoming market for “buy now, pay later” point-of-sale financing.
Founded in 2008, Vyze’s goal is to enable merchants to offer their customers a large selection of instant credit options both online and at in-store locations. Vyze does this by connecting retailers and lenders via its platform. Vyze does not offer financing to its clients’ customers directly; instead, it enables merchants to offer their customers the chance to obtain financing from a number of established lending institutions.
Part of Vyze’s success is tied to its ability to match its merchants’ customers with appropriate lending options; the company states that its financing approval rates are as high as 90 percent, significantly above the overall industry average. The success of Vyze’s platform is further demonstrated by its track record. Leading retailers including The Home Depot, Microsoft, HTC and Samsung are among the company’s clients, and Vyze has enabled over $1 billion in purchasing power to date.
Vyze is one of several POS financing platform providers demonstrating strong performance. The alternative financing options provided by point-of-sale credit are increasingly attractive to younger customers, particularly those looking to purchase bigger-ticket items. Indeed, Accenture estimates that point-of-sale financing is a $1.8 trillion opportunity in the United States alone.
Blake Rosenthal, Mastercard’s vice president of global acceptance, notes that Vyze’s platform aligns well with Mastercard’s own strategy: “What it provides for consumers is additional choice at the point of sale, which is very consistent strategically with how we are thinking of things.” Speaking with MarketWatch, Rosenthal stated that she expects that Mastercard’s significant existing relationship network with lenders and merchants will propel Vyze’s growth even further.
Vyze’s leadership agrees that Mastercard’s acquisition will prove beneficial to its platform. Vyze CEO Keith Nealon stated that “Mastercard has a long history of building an incredibly powerful network, connecting some of the world’s most influential financial institutions, merchants and innovators…with their relationships and scale, we see a great opportunity to reach exponentially more partners and consumers.”
