Payments Tech Startup Shift4 Payments Files IPO Plans

Payments technology firm Shift4 Payments, headquartered in Allentown, Pennsylvania, filed for an initial public offering (IPO), according to a Securities and Exchanges Commission filing.

Shift4 Payments first filed paperwork for an IPO in December 2019.

The company, founded in 1994, is hoping to raise up to $100 million. Renaissance Capital said this could be “placeholder” so the firm can raise up to $300 million.

Shift4 Payments reported a net loss of $58.1 million in 2019, up from $49.9 million in 2018. Gross revenue rose 30.5 percent during the same period, according to the regulatory filing.

Amid the coronavirus pandemic, more people are looking to touchless processes for both payments and banking services, a Reuters report indicated. 

Shift4 Payments, trading as FOUR, is expected to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). The IPO was underwritten by Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, according to Reuters. 

Shift4 Payments offers a suite of integrated multichannel payment products and services, according to its website. The company does business with businesses such as KFC, Hilton, Kohler and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. In the first quarter of 2020, the firm handled in excess of 66,000 merchants representing over $6 billion in end-to-end payment volume.

The company said it had a steady increase in merchant transaction volumes after lows in March. According to Shift4’s data, the restaurant industry had a 45 percent increase in payment transactions in the last seven days versus the week of March 22 when volumes plunged to their lows. 

Because travel continues to be limited, the transaction volume in that sector is still off, with a 3.9 percent increase nationwide. Outside of hospitality, Shift4’s index went up 62 percent during April and into May.

Shift4 Payments, which has offices in Europe and the United States, first launched as United Bank Card Inc., offering free point-of-sale terminals to merchants using its services. In 2012, it changed its name to Harbortouch, taking the brand of its POS system. And in 2017, it established a parent company called Lighthouse Network, which became Shift4 last year after the company acquired Shift4 Corp.