SumUp needed to accelerate their pay-outs to customers, so they partnered with Paysolut. Learn how they've benefitted from access to SEPA Instant and more.
We sat down for a virtual chat with Dimitri Gugunava, VP Banking and Acquiring at SumUp, to discuss:
Founded in 2011, SumUp is a London-based financial technology company that helps small businesses power revenues through card payments. The company offers affordable, easy-to-use hardware and software solutions, including physical readers, online payments, invoices and other services.
SumUp had realized over time that it was challenging for small merchants to wait for multiple days to see the money their customers had paid them.
While SumUp enabled merchants to accept card payments instantly, existing payment rails meant the process of settlement for small businesses required a waiting time of three to five days for payments to clear through.
“Essentially, we depend on intermediary banking services providers to be able to move the money from the issuers through acquirers to our accounts, and finally to the merchants’ accounts,” Dimitri explains. “This process used to take several days, especially if the card payment was made before a weekend or a holiday.”
For SumUp, the key to faster settlements was a direct link to the SEPA payment schemes that simplify international payments across the Eurozone.
Particularly important was a connection to the SEPA Instant scheme, which enables pan-European credit transfers in less than 10 seconds, including evening hours, weekends and holidays – periods when most traditional electronic payments are not operational.
According to Dimitri, SumUp considered several different dimensions when choosing the right solution for SEPA integration:
Paysolut’s flexible modular banking platform and competitive commercial offer made the company the perfect choice for SEPA integration. Using Paysolut’s SEPA gateway module, SumUp set up a connection to SEPA Clearing and Settlement services via the Bank of Lithuania’s CENTROlink system. The company also uses Paysolut payment and remittance applications to pay merchants in the UK in GBP.
“The legacy technology we used before partnering with Paysolut restricted our flexibility. Paysolut provided a scalable platform to innovate on, shortened the SEPA integration process and abstracted a lot of complexities for us,” Dimitri remembers.
Most importantly, SumUp obtained access to SEPA schemes within weeks. Integrating Paysolut’s SEPA module into SumUp’s existing architecture was quick and hassle-free, which meant that SumUp was able to speed up pay-outs and offer significant value to clients faster. In the fintech world, where speed is paramount, this was a great advantage.
As a company, we like to move quickly, so time-to-market is important for us. Paysolut’s flexible API system helped us deliver major improvements to our services way faster than we could have done on our own.
Dimitri Gugunava, VP Banking and Acquiring at SumUp
SumUp has been using Paysolut to initiate SEPA transfers for over two years. Participating in the SEPA Instant scheme allows the company’s customers to receive funds in seconds, which shortens their cash conversion cycle and ensures they have the funds to meet short-term obligations.
Beyond providing the technical service behind the banking modules, Paysolut also helped SumUp in an advisory role during when the company was applying for an electronic money institution licence with the Bank of Lithuania.
“When partnering with Paysolut, our main goal was to get connected to the SEPA system and accelerate payments in the EEA area. We got all that and more.We’re very happy with the results of our partnership, and we are considering the possibility of extending it outside the continent, to countries such as the US and Brazil, and adding more currencies,” Dimitri reveals.
Working with Paysolut went smoothly from the beginning, according to Dimitri, as the company was eager to support SumUp’s ambitious goals in terms of pace.
SumUp has been using Paysolut to initiate SEPA transfers for over two years. Participating in the SEPA Instant scheme allows the company’s customers to receive funds in seconds, which shortens their cash conversion cycle and ensures they have the funds to meet short-term obligations.
Beyond providing the technical service behind the banking modules, Paysolut also helped SumUp in an advisory role during when the company was applying for an electronic money institution licence with the Bank of Lithuania.
“When partnering with Paysolut, our main goal was to get connected to the SEPA system and accelerate payments in the EEA area. We got all that and more.We’re very happy with the results of our partnership, and we are considering the possibility of extending it outside the continent, to countries such as the US and Brazil, and adding more currencies,” Dimitri reveals.
Working with Paysolut helped SumUp to increase the value they offer to customers. This partnership ensures that small merchants get paid as quickly as possible so they can get on with growing their businesses.
“Empowering small business owners is our core goal. Our collaboration with Paysolut has enabled us to respond to their feedback, so we are very pleased with the results.”
SumUp acquiring Paysolut at the beginning of 2021 was an extension of the partnership between the two companies. According to Dimitri, the acquisition made a lot of sense after the two years of great results.
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