Celero Acquires FlashBanc, Giving It an Edge in Mobile Payments Market
Merger and acquisitions (M&A) activity is commonly a good sign of a maturing business. Celero Commerce recently tipped us off about one such move it made recently in the field with the acquisition of FlashBanc, a move which should give Celero a lot of extra firepower in the mobile payments arena.
There are two key points to the acquisition of FlashBanc that should make it a winner for Celero in mobile payments. One, FlashBanc primarily deals in electronic payments technology. That alone is all the groundwork that’s needed to fuel operation in mobile payments. Two, FlashBanc also deals in loyalty program operations, which is seen in some quarters as the perfect means to get people interested in using mobile payments tools.
As an extra benefit, Celero will also get access to FlashBanc’s markets, meaning that Celero will now have about 28,000 merchants to its credit, and process around $10 billion in annual payment volume.
Celero CEO Kevin Jones noted “Partnering with Michael and the FlashBanc team presents a great opportunity. FlashBanc has a history of providing solutions focused on helping customers grow. In this unprecedented environment, the acquisition of FlashBanc underscores Celero’s commitment to SMB merchants across the U.S.”
Since Celero focuses on payment processing, along with business management, analytics tools and the like for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), the end result is a little extra power in the field. Basically, if Celero wanted to open up its own e-wallet system or the like, it likely could thanks to the tools brought in from FlashBanc.Throw in the loyalty program materials, and some of Celero’s own, and it might well prove a white-label force to be reckoned with. Just having the analytics alone might be a welcome move for anyone who decides to accept a hypothetical Celero e-wallet in their stores; small businesses have been hungry for analytics tools that were readily accessible at the SMB level for quite some time. If Celero includes these as incentive to accept payment that way, it could be a game-changer.
Only time will tell just what Celero does with its new acquisition, but it’s certainly got some room to shake up the market over this.