Amaryllis Makes TRANSACT 18 Impact

Startup Amaryllis made an appearance at TRANSACT 18 in Las Vegas April 16 through 19 – the company’s first 10-by-10 booth at a major conference, noted CEO Mark Bishopp, and an experience that was right in line with the startup’s goal to make 2018 “the year of getting the word out” about Amaryllis.

According to the Electronic Transactions Association (ETA), TRANSACT brings together all parts of the payments ecosystem – from ISOs/VARs to ISVs and large financial institutions to technology companies – to meet, see what’s new and learn what it takes to grow.

As such, Bishopp said, the conference was a bit of a whirlwind, packed with over 80 individual meetings over its four-day span. Bishopp said the company met with the top 10 U.S.-based acquiring banks, all of which are pursuing follow-up items to determine the best way to work with Amaryllis.

Also notably, said Bishopp, the startup had the opportunity to participate in a panel session with four other FinTechs to discuss their solutions and how they are unique to third-party payments.

Conveniently, he noted, the panel discussion immediately followed a conversation by major card brands, all of which highlighted the complex nature of third-party payments, advising guests to “get help; do not do it alone.”

Bishopp said it was the perfect segue for him to delve into how Amaryllis can help address the card brands’ concerns on a module-by-module basis.

With a modular solution focused on scalability, the startup aims to make it easy for third-party payment companies to launch, scale and manage complex seller-based payment models, integrating with legacy systems so that organizations can focus on the future instead of fiddling endlessly with tech.

Through the panel discussion, Bishopp observed that people are getting better at recognizing third-party payment models and the importance of integrated payments as the market shifts away from an isolated view of payments and toward a more holistic view of the customer experience package.

Thus, he said, many in the space are making progress by realizing that payments are merely a piece of a larger effort, and beginning to treat them as such.

In other news, Bishopp reported that Amaryllis is on track to start a formal Series A funding round sometime in late June.