New as-a-service paytech for PSPs launches in the UK, Shape
A new paytech – Shape Technologies – has launched in the UK offering Payments-Platform-as-a-Service (PPaaS) to payment service providers (PSPs) worldwide.
Shape Technologies, a new paytech in the UK
Bristol-based Shape has opened for business with six initial modules, offering merchant-facing interfaces for a range of payments businesses including acquirers, payment facilitators, payment gateways, and independent sales organisations.
The modules are onboarding; verify; data; payments; analytics; and billing. Shape intends to expand functionality as it scales and create partnerships with third-party providers to augment its library of pre-integrated services for licensees.
“In the eternal struggle that is buy vs build / capex vs opex, Shape offers an alternative like no other: true, user-friendly white labelling made possible in a few simple clicks and at a fraction of the price of a self-build,” the start-up claims.
“And with its extensive range of customisation options, with Shape, no two platforms need ever look the same. It’s white-labelling and then some.”
The vendor highlights the modular nature of the platform’s architecture, which enables its licensees to select any combination of its products. When operated together, it provides the infrastructure for an end-to-end service from transaction instigation through to fund settlement, according to Shape. In alternative combinations, the platform can operate as a standalone merchant data capture service for ISOs, an orchestration engine for payment facilitators, or anything in-between, the company adds.
“The Shape platform also addresses what remains to be the elephant in the room for so many tech-heavy PSPs: manual back-end processes,” it says. “With Shape, automation comes as standard throughout.”
The paytech says its founders have recognised PSPs’ “trepidation” when it comes to using white-label products – hence, Shape’s platform is “a technology-first purpose-built PPaaS solution, rather than a white-label version of its own PSP product”.
Customisation spans beyond the UI design, it explains. Its payments integrations with payment gateways, acquirers, and banks are all managed and controlled in-app by its licensees who can configure payment options and settlement terms, among other things.
“We’ve seen so many payments businesses stall under the burden of heavy technology builds and so lose ground on their competition, and now Shape’s solution can put an end to that,” states Shape’s co-founder, Jack Mangnall.
