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Clear2Pay secures €1.8 million funding,
advocates bank-centric approach to enablement of Internet payments
Summary
Clear2Pay, a vendor of software and solutions for Internet payments
to financial institutions, has secured an early stage funding round
of EUR 1.8 million. Clear2Pay enables financial institutions, payments
processors and banking associations worldwide to build infrastructures
for online payments. The company has been co-founded by Michel Akkermans,
former CEO of FICS and former Chairman of S1 Corporation, a pioneer
in the Internet banking industry.
Zaventem (Brussels), Belgium, 22 November 2001 - Clear2Pay, a Belgium-based
vendor of solutions to facilitate financial institutions' delivery
of Internet-based payments, has secured early stage funding of EUR
1.8 million. The principal sources of the funding are Big Bang Ventures,
a Belgian venture capital company, and a consortium of employees.
The Chairman and CEO of the new company is Michel Akkermans, former
Chairman of S1 Corporation and a pioneer in the e-finance industry.
The company's co-founder is Jürgen Ingels, an investment manager
at one of Europe's largest banks, and the inventor of the Clear2Pay
system.
True to its motto "In banks, we trust," Clear2Pay focuses
on developing software and services to enable banks to deliver Internet-based
payments services to their corporate, small business and retail
customers. "There is a maturing global need to reduce the cost
and complexity of making payments," says Michel Akkermans,
CEO and Chairman of Clear2Pay. "Today we are seeing considerable
convergence in the technologies, networks and protocols used to
deliver payments online. The time is ripe to offer financial institutions
dedicated technology and expertise to deliver payments services
on the Internet." Clear2Pay's niche focus reflects a fast-growing
demand among financial institutions, banking associations and payments
processors for expertise and technology in the area of Internet
payments. According to research firm Tower Group, banks worldwide
spend nearly 10.8 billion dollars on technology for payments processing
each year. Further research in the area, by BancBoston Robertson
Stephens, estimates that banks are currently estimated to spend
five times more on introducing Internet payments than other players
- e-commerce companies, technology vendors and 'disintermediators'
- combined.
"The Clear2Pay concept is robust," says Barend Van Den
Brande, Managing Partner at Big Bang Ventures. "The company
has attracted top-notch people who have played a significant role
in successive generations of Internet banking. We were impressed
by Clear2Pay's niche focus, understanding and realism with regard
to banks' near-term electronic payments strategies, and their commitment
to work with, not to disintermediate, banks."
Clear2Pay's technology aims to help financial institutions worldwide
to deliver Internet-payments to their customers in a secure, user-friendly
and efficient way. Clear2Pay has filed for a US and International
patent (US Patent Application S.N. 09/638,821 and PCT Patent Application
PCT/US01/25209). The proceeds of the funding will enable the company
to fulfill its current objectives: building traction and cooperation
among financial institutions, banking associations and payments
processors; further developing the Clear2Pay platform and functionality;
execution of an international sales and marketing; and establishing
real-life implementations of the Clear2Pay concept.
Clear2Pay sees several differentiators of its offering:
- Bank-centricity: Clear2Pay respects financial institutions'
brand and existing relationship with its customer - the customer
experiences payments as a bank service;
- Applicability: Clear2Pay's platform focuses on rich payments
functionality to address numerous customer segments. These include:
business-to-business applications such as bill presentment, and
integration with e-commerce exchanges and trading protocols; business-to-consumer
payments, via integration with shopping cart, micropayment and
'paybutton' technologies; and retail payments, based on user-friendly
web and email applications;
- Openness: Clear2Pay uses Internet technology, and offers interoperability
with third party security architectures and standards; it is designed
with international deployment in mind (it is multicurrency, and
multilingual);
- Compliance: Clear2Pay supports emerging protocols and standards
in the electronic payments arena, for example, the IBAN (International
Bank Account Number), xml-based standards and SWIFT standards;
- Flexible transaction processing concept: financial institutions
can opt to net transactions within a settlement cycle (to reduce
the number of funds transfers made), to handle transactions in
batches, or to process payments on a per-transaction basis;
- Rich payments functionality: immediate/scheduled payments, sliced
payments, credit/debit payments, etc.
About Michel Akkermans
Michel Akkermans is Chairman and CEO of Clear2Pay, a clearing service
that enables financial institutions to add payment certainty to
e-commerce transactions. An e-finance pioneer, Michel founded FICS
in 1989, a software provider in the field of online banking and
regulatory financial reporting. Under his leadership, FICS grew
to employ over 700 employees worldwide and achieve revenues of over
USD 70 million. In 1999 FICS, together with Edify and Vertical One,
merged with Security First Technologies, to create the global market
leader in Internet banking - S1 Corporation, where until November
2000 Michel assumed the role of Chairman. Michel's new venture reflects
his understanding of e-finance is one seen through banks' eyes,
not that of the 'disintermediator' or the technologist. Michel also
holds several directorships in various financial technology companies.
About Clear2Pay
Clear2Pay is an innovative e-finance company focused on delivering
a globally applicable solution for secure, timely electronic payments.
The company has filed a US and European patent for its Clear2Pay
system, a payments clearing and settlement technology. Following
a capital increase, Clear2Pay is developing a full-blown version
of its technology, with input from financial institutions and payments
processors. The company's focus is to reduce inter-bank transaction
processing costs and facilitate banks' provision of electronic payments.
Early applications of the technology will provide Internet-based
electronic payments with related netting and settlement functions
within major financial institutions and banking consortia. Clear2Pay's
CEO and Chairman is Michel Akkermans, a thought-leader in the banking
industry and former Chairman of S1 Corporation. Clear2Pay's co-founder
is Jürgen Ingels, an investment manager at one of Europe's
largest banks, and the inventor of the Clear2Pay system. Jürgen
is a board member of several business-to-business technology companies
in Europe and the US. Clear2Pay's employees are drawn from an established
network of e-finance professionals. The company is headquartered
in Brussels, Belgium. More information is available on Clear2Pay's
website at http://www.clear2pay.com.
About Big Bang Ventures
Big Bang Ventures invests in early-stage ICT companies. The fund
typically invests EUR 0.5 to 1.5 million in companies focused on
Internet technology, networking infrastructure and solutions and
enterprise software. In addition, Big Bang provides hands-on assistance
with business strategy and planning, competitive positioning, sales
and marketing strategy, corporate structuring, HR and financing
rounds. The fund limits its investments to five companies per year.
More information is available on Big Bang Ventures' website at http://www.bbv.be.
Contacts
Kimball Felix
Marketing and Communications
Clear2Pay
Zikkelstraat 64 rue de la Faucille
1970 Wezembeek-Oppem
Belgium
T: +32 2 759 94 96
E:
Barend Van Den Brande
Managing Partner
Big Bang Ventures
Kapel Ter Bede 86
8500 Kortrijk
Belgium
T: +32 477 45 30 33
E:
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