Dive Brief:
- Alternative payment processing firm Acapture announced that it is now handling transactions for Crowdyhouse and Boatsters, two e-commerce sites whose transactions carry with them some of the multi-channel complexity Acapture aims to address.
- Acapture likened Boatsters' sharing model to Airbnb, with transactions occurring between boat owners and boat enthusiasts. Meanwhile, Crowdyhouse is an international marketplace that enables consumers to buy directly from designers.
- Acapture said its omnichannel payment processing platform handles 60 alternative payment methods and supports more than 160 transaction currencies, giving shoppers freedom to use their preferred payment methods, native language and currency.
Dive Insight:
Acapture, launched last September by Payvision, is still very new to the payments processing game. While this new partner announcement concerned e-commerce sites, the platform also can support in-store payments.
The payment space is crowded right now, and it could continue to be difficult for new platforms not named Apple Pay to get noticed. However, Acapture does boast support for particularly thorny cross-border e-commerce transactions as a specialty, and an affinity for "share economy" transactions.
As the age of the share economy (or peer-to-peer commerce, if you prefer) takes off, this is no small thing. As companies like Airbnb, Lyft, Zaarly, TaskRabbit and Task Rabbi (we're not kidding with that last one) disrupt their respective sectors of the economy, there will be plenty of work for payments processing firms that can support them.
Of course, Acapture isn't the only one that understands this, and will have to fight for recognition among all the rest.
