Here are our top five tweets from the week that was. Keep tweeting, and we may feature you next Friday.
@znoorani: 53% return on $NTSP trades since IP, thanks $TSS! “@pymnts: Major payment news: TSYS to Acquire @NetSpend bit.ly/XpoXhC @TSYS_TSS”
We can’t blame Zach for being excited here: NetSpend stocks jumped 43.82 percent to $15.84 on Wednesday after news broke that the company was acquired by TSYS for $1.4 billion. It’s an interesting move for both companies and comes at a time when the prepaid industry is really booming. We’re speaking with Dan Henry, CEO of NetSpend, and Troy Woods, President and COO of TSYS soon, so stay tuned for that piece coming next week.
@OrderNowApp: @pymnts thanks again for telling our story! We have some big updates coming in February and March. Stay tuned!
We have to thank the Funk brothers at OrderNow one more time for their candid responses to this piece we ran on what life is really like for a payments startup. If you have time, give the piece a read and the interview a listen here, but if you don’t I’ll summarize here: the word’s “terrifying” and “thrilling” were both brandished with frequency. We wish these guys all the best as they begin their payments journey, and we’ll be sure to keep you up to date with their platform as they grow.
@rroessler: @Interesting interview: What makes a payment startup attractive to investors? Pymnts.com/briefing-room/… via @pymnts
While we heard about life as a startup from the startup point-of-view from OrderNow, Arjan Schutte of Core Innovation Center was kind enough to tell us what life is like from an investing standpoint. Schutte said he looks for “three D’s” when scouting for startups: digitization, democratization and disruption, and that scale is immensely important as well. It’s a side of the industry we rarely get to hear from, and we thank Arjan for sharing his time and perspective with us.
@PRGauthier: MasterCard embraces “connected device” view of commerce & Isis redoes its wallet. 1 of them gets it. Visual.ly/cloud-computin…
Patrick provides us with some interesting commentary re: Isis and MasterCard, as well as a link to a cool infographic detailing some stats about “the cloud.” I have to admit that Isis planning a new version of its mobile wallet so soon after its (delayed) launch was a bit surprising to me as well, but if they feel as though they can better address their issues through a completely new re-release, good on them for doing it sooner rather than later.
@KevlarBrown: Simple & intuitive, in product & pricing RT @pymnts: @Square launches “Business In A Box” POS Solution ow.ly/hUYkX
Add Kevin to the long list of Square fans excited this week by the company’s announcement that they’ve launched a “Business In A Box” solution designed to serve as a complete POS system for small retailers. The platform comes with two Square readers, an iPad stand and a cash drawer, and can be customized with additional features as well. It’s a very intriguing move for a company clearly looking to expand from its mPayments origins.
Have a good weekend, and happy tweeting!