Founded in 2018, Phos enables merchants to take payments directly with a card tap on Android mobiles, eliminating the need for a separate card reader.

For Ingenico, the acquisition is inline with a strategic shift towards the delivery of software-based services for digital payments in the traditionally hardware-driven EftPOS market.

The SoftPOS space is viewed as a dynamic and growing market with multiple applications for both in-aisle payments at larger retailers as well as at small merchants and for ‘solopreneurs’. The installed base of SoftPoS terminals is expected to grow from 3.1 million worldwide in 2022 to almost 12 million in 2027.

Brad Hyett, CEO of Phos, says: "We see strong customer demand and significant double-digit growth in the SoftPoS addressable market worldwide and are convinced that Ingenico will help us capture more of that market and explore new use cases with clients globally. We look forward to accelerating the business together with the Ingenico teams over the coming months."

Ingenico intends to embed Phos into its device-agnostic Payments Platform as a Service (PPaaS) offering acquirers, payment service providers and independent software vendors.

Giulio Montemagno, general manager of PPaaS for Ingenico, says: "Our clients and partners around the world have clearly identified SoftPoS as one of the biggest opportunities they see right now. They consider SoftPoS a strategic option to engage with new customer segments and develop and test innovative use cases at scale, with minimum incremental investments in technology and distribution."