RBS has joined forces with Mastercard, Motive Partners and EFM Asset Management to invest in merchant acquiring startup Pollinate.
Pollinate is developing a cloud-based technology platform for banks that will compete with the likes of WordlPay, offering a merchant-friendly experience which includes payments, business management, marketing connectivity with consumers and charitable giving.
The firm has already forged a partnership with RBS on the launch of a merchant acquiring proposition for SMEs, Tyl by NatWest, which was unveiled in May and is now available to customers in England and Wales. Alongside straightforward customer on-boarding, simple pricing and next day settlement, Tyl offers smart data-led insights to help customers make informed business decisions.
Alison Rose, deputy CEO of NatWest holdings and CEO of commercial & private banking at RBS says: “I am hugely excited to announce the creation of a global merchant services company with Mastercard, Motive Partners and EFM Asset Management. Partnering with such high-quality companies, each of us bringing unique expertise and skills, allows for a truly international offering, benefitting not only our customers but the wider merchant acquiring space.
We are committed to continually improving the products and experiences that we deliver to our customers, and the creation of Pollinate represents an innovative and successful approach of working with partners to do this.”
Run by a team of executives including former Monitise chief Al Lukies, Pollinate has thus far raised £60 million in funding..
Other executives include Pollinate co-founder, president and CEO Jonathan Hughes who was previous COO at rival Worldpay, Fiona Roach Canning who previously ran operations and customer experience at Nectar and Tim Joslyn who ran technology strategies at Worldpay.