Fintech firm Revolut is lusting after in-person payments with the launch of Revolut Reader in the UK and Ireland.
According to Revolut, the card reader is a new product designed to allow merchants to accept payments, whether their business is in-person or on-the-go. The launch marks Revolut’s move into in-person payments, as the app seeks to diversify its offering for business customers.
Revolut Reader does away with the “hassle of dealing with coins and notes”. Instead, it accepts instant transactions made with debit and credit cards, as well as contactless payment methods.
Maria Garcia Marti, Product Owner Acquiring at Revolut, points out that the payments are “faster than the industry standard of two to three business days”.
Revolut Reader can be adapted to other POS systems in place within businesses, having an SDK/API solution included.
In the coming months, Revolut Business offer will be extended with a POS solution for larger merchants if they need to integrate Revolut Reader with POS systems already used.
The payment terminal offers pricing starting at 0.8% + £/€0.02 per transaction fee and a one-off cost or customised pricing for businesses dealing with high volumes.
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Revolut explains that by opening a Merchant Account with Revolut Business, a customer can connect a business account to Revolut Reader and gain free access to its tools (local and international payments, foreign exchange at interbank rate, IBAN for global transfers, payments requests, expenses, subscriptions and company cards management, payroll).
In 2015, Revolut launched in the UK offering money transfer and exchange. Today, it has more than 18 million customers and 500,000+ businesses around the world use its products to make more than 150 million transactions a month.
The fintech company has had a busy year. Such as new recruits for APAC, Brazil and the US; unleashing stock trading in Australia; acquiring India-based Arvog Forex; securing an Australian credit licence; and launching as a bank in ten Western European markets.
Revolut’s main rivals have also been pretty busy.
Chinese company Tencent has grabbed a small stake in Monzo as part of a fundraising. The fintech firm did not reveal the precise details in its announcement, but according to Sky News Tencent was investing a minority of a $100 million (£74 million) capital injection, citing a source close to the process.
In April, Starling Bank completed an internal fundraise of £130.5 million at a pre-money valuation of more than £2.5 billion.
On top of that, Starling announced last month that it passed the three million current account milestone, which includes more than 460,000 small business accounts.
Image courtesy of Revolut Business.
