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Payments interoperability innovator Modo took home top honors at the Payments Pitch-Off sponsored by fellow Finovate alum Worldpay. The Texas-based company, which demonstrated its Digital Payments Hub at FinovateFall 2016, made their winning case before a judging panel of venture capitalist and payments industry executives, besting nine other participants.
“We couldn’t smile big enough to truly express our excitement,” Modo tweeted, announcing the news. “But trust us we are so excited to win the #ETATRANSACT PitchOff.”
At the event, Modo showed how a merchant could use Modo’s technology to add and remove PSPs into their systems with the “simple click of a button.” Modo provides a cloud-based payments utility that enables interoperability between banks, networks, payments processors, and their partners. Its one-to-many interface takes the friction out of payments by delivering any source of value (traditional or non-traditional) to any destination and back again without requiring any changes to the client’s infrastructure. Modo’s partners include Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Alliance Data, and Verifone, as well as fellow Finovate alums FIS and Klarna.
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“The Payments Pitch-Off at TRANSACT gives innovative startups the keynote stage to show off their products and services to the industry’s preeminent leaders at the world’s largest payments industry event,” ETA CEO Jason Oxman said. The Payments Pitch-off is part of the TRANSACT conference held by the Electronic Transactions Association (ETA). As the pitch-off winner, Modo picked up a $30,000 cash prize. A $5,000 cash prize for the “audience favorite” was awarded to Menusifu’s Restaurant Go app, a contactless payment solution for diners.
Fellow Finovate alum Sezzle also participated in the competition. Additionally, the event featured its 2018 Star Awards which honored individuals who had “made a significant difference in the payments industry through innovation, business practices, or contributions to the association.” These included representatives from Finovate alums including TSYS, Mastercard, and FIS.
PYMNTS.com interviewed company CEO Bruce Parker about payments in the cloud last month. Modo ended 2017 by adding former CEO of Klarna North America Brian Billingsley as Chief Revenue Officer. The company participated in our developers conference, FinDEVr New York, in 2016, discussing how its Digital Payments Hub can be used to design and manage the complete digital payment transaction lifecycle. Later that year, Modo demonstrated the four components of its technology: Payments System Connectors, Payments Transactions, Credentials Vault, and Digital Experiences at FinovateFall 2016.
Founded in 2010, Modo has raised more than $11 million in funding. The company’s investors include Tim Keith, CEO of Central Texas Partners; John Beletic, partner at Oak Investment Partners; and Jay Kassing, owner of fintech company Marquis.