Ingenico Acquires Mobile Payment Provider ROAM

French point of sale provider Ingenico Group has purchased ROAM Data for an undisclosed amount.

ROAM was one of the first to offer card readers that could connect to mobile devices, and has seen strong adoption of the device globally.

In total, over 100,000 merchants use a ROAM credit card reader, and the company has integrated in-app purchasing, chip and PIN compatibility, and certified magnetic stripe readers for merchants in Europe, America, and around the world.

Expecting greater mobile commerce growth in the future, Ingenico Group says its purchase of ROAM will allow it to penetrate the mobile payments market while expanding functionality to existing ROAM users. “ROAM is a key part of the Ingenico Group worldwide portfolio as mobile commerce growth surges,” said Jacques Guérin, Ingenico’s Executive Vice President of Smart Terminals and Mobile Solutions.

Ingenico hopes the acquisition will allow it to penetrate the U.S. mobile payments market further, where it has faced stiff competition from domestic favorites.

With ROAM, the company hopes to disrupt established market leaders like Verifone as well as fast-growing startups like Square.

“This is just a progression of our relationship with ROAM. We invested early on in the company to see how we could help it grow. We see the acquisition as making it seamless for our customers in deploying our solutions,” said Ingenico Group North America President Thierry Denis.

Ingenico is a leader in the European POS market, with over €1.5 billion in revenues expected for 2014.

The company has seen tremendous growth, with revenues rising 16% year-over-year in the third quarter. Through its subsidiary Ingenico Payment Services, the company is looking to deliver a POS service that seamless connects in-store, online, and mobile payments. With ROAM, it is one step closer to that goal.