Pollinate, the business behind Tyl by NatWest, has launched with a growth capital investment round from a consortium of global industry leaders. Mastercard, Motive Partners and EFM Asset Management (EFM) will join RBS as both investors in, and partners to, the Pollinate business, which has raised a total of £60 million in funding to date.
Over the past decade, disruptive payment companies have challenged retail banks for ownership of their merchant relationships. Pollinate is reinventing merchant acquiring for banks, enabling them to compete effectively with these disruptors. The Pollinate technology is an innovative cloud-based platform that wraps around a bank’s legacy payment systems.
The platform powers merchant and consumer digital experiences including onboarding, portals and loyalty programs, without costly and distracting platform migrations. This allows merchants to more effectively manage their businesses with digital tools and data integrations, grow their businesses by connecting with their consumers, and give back to their local communities.
For banks, the Pollinate platform helps them understand and engage with their customers better and build stronger relationships with their merchants and consumers alike.
Conceived in 2017, the first deployment of the platform took place in Spring 2019 with the launch of the Tyl by NatWest merchant services business in the UK, and Pollinate is now in advanced discussions with other leading retail banks around the world.
Commenting on the announcement Alison Rose, Deputy CEO of NatWest Holdings and CEO of Commercial & Private Banking at RBS said, “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.”
Jeff Emmanuel, Chief Investment Officer and Founder of EFM added: “As technology companies around the world are reimagining the delivery of financial services, a number of fintech ‘enablers’ have recognised the opportunity in bridging technological innovation, and the distribution scale and brand value of the largest financial institutions. Our disruptive fintech fund seeks opportunities through investment in dynamic companies which leverage their capabilities to deliver improved customer outcomes.
Through combining machine learning with a unique ecosystem of data assets, Pollinate offers banks an exciting new service proposition for their customers. We are delighted to be backing this great team, and through our Board participation, look forward to leveraging our network and experience in the space to maximise the opportunity.”
