The Payments Group Launches, Offers ‘360-Degree Payment Service’

A group of four FinTech and PayTech brands called The Payments Group (TPG) launched Monday (Oct. 21), saying it offers a “360-degree payment service.”

TPG’s brands — Funanga, Calida Financial, TWBS and Surfer Rosa — joined with a company formerly named SGT German Private Equity and now called The Payments Group Holding (PGH), the company said in a Monday press release.

“Even though we are new to the market as TPG, we already have everything we need to become a major player in payments 3.0,” TPG co-founder and CEO Jens Bader said in the release. “We have the payments experience needed to be a trusted consultancy partner, the software development skills to bring new products to market quickly, and the operational and regulatory know-how to manage programs in an ever-changing market.”

Together, the four TPG brands operate in 190 countries, power payments on tens of thousands of apps and websites, and offer cash services at 550,000 physical retail locations, according to the release. They had a net revenue of 10 million euros (about $10.8 million) in the last financial year.

TPG’s services include embedded payments products developed to meet the needs of its partners and delivered in one service; bespoke payment programs that include gift cards, vouchers and prepaid payment cards; and the CashtoCode service that enables consumers to use cash to top up their prepaid cards and digital accounts, per the release.

All the solutions are designed to make the payments experience frictionless to ensure that customers don’t abandon their purchase, the release said.

“The minute you fall behind the market standards, merchants look elsewhere,” Bader said in the release. “This may sound daunting, but we are obsessive about payments, and we are built to thrive in harsh conditions.”

SGT German Private Equity announced Aug. 13 that it had acquired majority stakes in Funanga, Campamocha (the parent company of Calida Financial and TWBS) and Surfer Rosa and would rename itself The Payments Group Holding Aug. 14.

The company said Sept. 4 that Calida Financial received an eMoney license from the Maltese Financial Services Authority (MFSA), allowing it to offer eMoney services and products throughout Europe. It said Sept. 24 that it completed its separation from the SGT Capital Group.