Heartland Payments Systems and LevelUp turned some heads at IP2013 yesterday, announcing a new partnership that promises to extend LevelUp’s reach while granting Heartland access to a new and innovative consumer base as well. How far back does the relationship between the two companies go, and what white label services will they be offering soon? PYMNTS.com spoke with Ian Drysdale, group president, network solutions for Heartland, and Chris Mahl, chief strategy and revenue officer for LevelUp, to find out.
There was no shortage of memorable appearances or breaking news to come out of The Innovation Project 2013 this week. But Heartland Payment Systems and LevelUp managed to steal much of the spotlight on Thursday, announcing a new partnership that could bring LevelUp to hundreds of thousands of additional merchants, while granting added benefits to Heartland as well.
PYMNTS.com spoke with Ian Drysdale, group president, network solutions for Heartland and Chris Mahl, chief strategy and revenue officer for LevelUp about the partnership and the mutual benefits it should bring to both entities.
As Drysdale pointed out, Heartland and LevelUp first began working together with a pilot they launched together in July 2012. Drysdale says that the success of the pilot helped convince Heartland that LevelUp was a worthy partner.
“We worked very closely with them, analyzed the data, and what we’re seeing is that all parties are benefiting from the promise of mobile commerce through LevelUp,” Drysdale explained. “Our consumers are getting offers that are driving them to more merchants, merchants are seeing more business, and LevelUp and Heartland are getting more customers. “
Mahl followed up by addressing how the partnership focuses on a common theme the company has expressed as of late: scale. Market Platform Dynamics CEO interviewed Seth Priebatsch, last week, and LevelUp’s “Chief Ninja” made some lofty predictions for his company’s growth for the rest of 2013.
Mahl’s statements reinforced that message, and he characterized the Heartland partnership as one that will bring LevelUp to new cities like Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia, San Francisco and beyond.
“It will be continue to be that very phased approach, bringing LevelUp into the Heartland distribution organization, and to that base. That’s the LevelUp ecosystem most people know,” Mahl pointed out. “So what this means is more merchant adoption, more consumer choice: obviously, a much greater option for our consumers in markets, when you look at the cities like New York, and Boston, and San Francisco, where we have hundreds of merchants.
They’re going to see a great deal more merchants, and so the consumer side will grow as well. “
To hear more from Drysdale and Mahl on the LevelUp and Heartland partnership, plus more about their white label offering, listen to the full podcast below.
*If you have trouble with the audio player above, click here.
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