Phos is a UK based fintech which enables merchants to accept payments directly on their phone. Our leading software point of sale (softPOS) technology turns any NFC enabled mobile device into a payments terminal, helping the world’s leading banks, retailers and other payment businesses to meet the growing demand for contactless payment flows.
The company was founded by myself and the senior management team of our sister company, Paynetics. We have continued to grow since our launch in 2018. In 2020, we raised EUR1.4m to expand the team in the UK/EU. We are now looking to expand our reach to all corners of the globe.
How did you come up with the idea for phos?
It started with our sister company Paynetics. The company looked at the digital and mobile first trends that were emerging in the financial services industry and saw that payments was an area poised for innovation. But there were significant pain points around logistics and commercial barriers associated with third party hardware. So, Paynetics created phos to address these issues and sell the solution as a white label to acquirers, banks, PSPs and ISOs around the world.
The idea behind phos is to bring the security typically associated with hardware onto the mobile device of the merchant. This opens up a world of possibilities, including a frictionless user experience for both the customer and the merchant.
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How has phos evolved during the pandemic?
A few things have happened during the pandemic – firstly, the global demand for contactless payments has gone through the roof. Contactless spending limits have been raised and health and safety through “touchless” solutions have become a number one priority. We’ve seen governments around the world double down on digital transformation projects for financial infrastructure, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa. Banks in the US have accelerated their distribution of contactless cards. And the use of mobile wallets like ApplePay and Google Pay have surged in popularity.
Much of this happened during the first wave of the pandemic, when most of the world went into lockdown and face-to-face transactions reduced to a fraction of the usual numbers. As parts of the world start to come out of lockdown, there is an openness to new solutions and an acceptance of new technology.
What can we hope to see from phos in the future?
Although phos started with payments, we don’t stop there. There is a whole ecosystem of value-added functionality we can now look to bring into our service and from which our partners can benefit. These may be solutions we build in-house or market-leading solutions to which we connect the application. Accounting platforms, mobile order solutions, and lending platforms are all requirements we’re currently seeing from customers. But there’s no limit to where we can go.
We’re constantly looking at the future trends in payments that we can easily incorporate into our app. For example, we’re already looking at incorporating open banking payments which brings more cost efficiencies, immediate fund transfers, and other options like cryptocurrency acceptance in-store. At phos we’re built on innovation, and making it easier for merchants to deploy the technology their customers want.
