7 September 2015. SYDNEY: Market-leading taxi booking and payments app goCatch has entered into an agreement to partner with ASX-listed company Mint Payments (ASX:MNW) to market Mint’s leading payments terminals to the Australian taxi market. The initial pilot will target part of goCatch’s base of 35,000 registered taxi drivers (representing over half of the national total) and both companies will look to strategically work with each other, paving the way for a broader rollout following the conclusion of the one month pilot.
The pilot will see Mint Payments’ mPOS terminals provided initially to a pilot group of goCatch taxi drivers in Sydney in a bid to build out new revenue channels for both businesses. It will be the first time goCatch will be targeting the processing of card present transactions via an in-cab payments terminal.
CEO of goCatch, Ned Moorfield, said the pilot addressed a huge slice of the taxi market that was currently not being served by the award-winning app.
“Roughly half of all taxi jobs in Australia are hailed from the street or taxi rank, representing a big opportunity for goCatch to monetise payments for these journeys,” he said.
“Rolling out mobile payment terminals enables us to capture some of that revenue while at the same time providing our drivers with a superior payments solution in their taxis,” Mr Moorfield said.
“We know that more fares are being booked through goCatch but this pilot with Mint has the potential to develop into a new revenue line for us.”
The new mPOS system consists of pocket-sized card reader that uses the taxi driver’s smartphone or tablet as the EFTPOS machine. It supports all of the major cards, tap-and-go technology, chip and PIN-based debit and credit card payments, and unlike many other systems in this space, it can be self-installed.
It’s expected that a broader future rollout of the Mint payments terminal to goCatch drivers will see a deeper integration of Mint’s mobile payments solution into the goCatch driver app, further streamlining the payments experience.
“We chose to partner with Mint Payments because of their outstanding track record in innovation and the company’s commitment to using cutting edge technology for superior payments solutions. We believe that the combination of goCatch’s bookings app and Mint’s payments terminal will be far ahead of any competing offering in the market,” Mr Moorfield said.
CEO of Mint Payments, Alex Teoh said: “goCatch has a significant base of 35,000 taxi drivers and a phenomenally high rate of completed bookings. We often look to partner with market leaders in each vertical segment, and with organisations that have a particular focus on their end-customer.”
“We are extremely pleased to be partnering with goCatch as a market leader in the app based taxi booking segment and look forward to building out the opportunity for both businesses to grow additional revenue streams through a broader roll out of an integrated payments solution with goCatch’s driver app,” Mr Teoh said.
Taxi drivers will earn a commission from fares processed through the terminals. In addition, they will be credited ten ‘goPoints’ for every dollar they put through the terminal to increase their driver status; high status drivers get the first chance to bid on the more lucrative jobs.
About goCatch:
goCatch is a multi-award winning smartphone based taxi dispatch and payments system, which reliably and efficiently connects taxi drivers with passengers. The Company was established in January 2011 by two tech-savvy entrepreneurs, Ned Moorfield and Andrew Campbell. goCatch is focused on capturing a dominant share of the $5.4 billion Australian Taxi and Limousine Transport market.
About Mint Payments Limited (ASX: MNW)
Mint Payments Limited is a leading non-bank, omni-channel payments (retail, mobile and online) provider for businesses in Australia and New Zealand. Mint Payments has a payments technology and transactions processing platform that enables corporate enterprises to accept credit and debit card payments on various mobile devices, tablets and connected online devices. The Company has invested and built bank grade payments technology and infrastructure that has allowed it to become a multi-channel and multi-national payments organisation. Mint Payments is headquartered in Sydney, Australia with offices and operations in Singapore as a base for the Asia-Pacific markets.
