The Death of Cash – New Tech Could Revolutionize the Payments Industry
Safehaven.com News Commentary
LONDON, August 30, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
The FinTech revolution has done the unthinkable: It's gone to war with time and distance, and it's won. Time and distance are no longer our masters. From anywhere, at any time we can order and pay for virtually anything with the click of a mobile phone button. We can even trade stocks, obtain home loans and access our banking services in seconds, and without unwanted human interaction. Leading tech companies in focus today include: Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE: PSTG), Teradata Corporation (NYSE: TDC), Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ: SYMC), CYREN Ltd. (NASDAQ: CYRN), Barracuda Networks, Inc. (NYSE: CUDA)
Time is money, in more ways than one. In this revolution, the investor opportunities are vast, and it will be evolution that dictates who dominates this massive industry.
And the key to evolution is digital payment apps that focus on integration. Apps that focus equally on merchants and customers for maximum usage - and maximum revenue.
We've found that in GlancePay (GET; GLNNF) - the latest FinTech from a Vancouver entrepreneur who is gunning for a repeat of his earlier success, PayByPhone, a mobile parking payment system that took the market by storm before this was even a trend. It sold for $45 million, and Volkswagen now owns it.
If 'FinTech' is a word that isn't yet in your vocabulary, it should be because companies in this industry are backed by legacy tech players who are raking in billions in investment. This year, global investment in FinTech will reach $150 billion, and the U.S. FinTech market alone is worth over $1 trillion.
CAGR growth is expected to be anywhere from 36 percent to an unbelievable 80 percent by 2020, depending on whose statistics you use. Either way, it's a market with tremendous growth potential, cutthroat competition and amazing opportunities for early investors. But finding the next big thing in the form of a publicly traded company isn't easy-some of the juiciest start-ups in this segment haven't yet done their IPOs, but they're in the billion-dollar club.
GlancePay by Glance Technologies Inc (GET; GLNNF), is the latest publicly traded opportunity, and it has the world's only app that can simply take a glance at where you are using proprietary and patent pending GPS / micro-location and image identification technology and pay your merchant in seconds.
It's holistic, streamlined, and has the technology with patents pending to protect it that have kept major players from securing greater market share over the past few years.
Right now, it's targeting the restaurant industry, which itself is worth over $500 billion in North America.
But that's just the beginning.
With the launch of legalized marijuana for recreational use in Canada next July, GlancePay is already taking advantage of the mobile payment opportunities in this space that could be worth $22.6 billion annually
And it's also planning to integrate hotter-than-hot digital currencies like Bitcoin, Litecoin and Ethereum into its system.
The company is forward thinking, with light-speed momentum.
Desmond Griffin, the founder of the wildly successful PayByPhone, has long been one of the heaviest trendspotters in FinTech. In the past, he's spotted trends before they were even trends, creating attractive acquisition targets.
With GlancePay, he's looking to do the same, only bigger. For restaurants, mobile pay apps mean faster table turnover, and bigger revenues.
In the age of convenience, where time and distance become increasingly irrelevant, GlancePay is in front of the mobile payment app evolution. It's spotted what existing offerings lack: integration and a much bigger picture.
Unlike all those startups whose stock investors can't get their hands on yet, Glance Pay is publicly traded, and it's already the #1 ranked mobile full service restaurant payment app in Canada-accounting for 92 percent of all mobile full service restaurant payment app downloads in Canada-and it's hungrily eyeing all of North America, where it already accounts for 37 percent of all mobile full service restaurant payment app downloads.
Here are 5 reasons to keep a close eye on GlancePay (GET; GLNNF)
#1 The New Generation of Mobile Payments
GlancePay is a streamlined payment platform that allows customers to pay their bill instantly with their mobile device. It means no more waiting on waitresses; no more credit card machines; and a single app rather than one for each restaurant.
The app knows where you are using patent pending GPS / micro-location technology. And, if GPS isn't available, it can even determine your location using a photo of where you are. Much like Google has mapped the world, GlancePay has quietly built a proprietary database of locations around the world.
It's as easy as point, shoot, pay.
But it is also much more. It takes the mobile pay app experience much farther than Apple Pay, which only iPhone owners can use, and which has failed so far to gain widespread usage.
With GlancePay, you're not just paying a bill: The system includes in-app marketing, in-store rewards, transaction history, payment confirmation, and even the ability to split the tab in a restaurant. It incentivizes users and adoption is growing from this network effect.
It also helps you choose nearby restaurants, and soon, it will also let you order from your table, pre-order for pickup, or order for delivery.
For restaurants, it means better business, faster turnaround and potentially greater revenues.
The company estimates that restaurants will benefit from 10 percent faster table turnover during peak periods, improved server productivity, which should be bigger tips, and a loyalty/rewards program that could encourage customer returns and even attract new customers. The built-in feedback program also adds to the big-picture offering here, by giving restaurants a faster, easier way to earn reviews and ratings.
Bottom line: This isn't just about making a payment with one click, it's about streamlining the entire customer experience with a single app-from finding, ordering and paying, to rewards and reviews. And the company's plans to integrate multiple payment channels from Bitcoin to Litecoin and Ethereum will revolutionize the mobile payment industry.
#2 A Trillion-Dollar Market in the U.S. Alone
FinTech has taken the banking, payment services, digital currencies, investing and insurance industries by storm. That's why Fintech funding hit $19 billion in 2015-with massive growth sped up by legacy players and their tech partners sitting on the cutting edge of business ideas and having major first-mover advantage.
In the first half of this year, FinTech companies in the U.S. raised $3.5 billion, according to KPMG. Investors pounced on this scene in droves. And in the U.S. alone, there are more than a dozen Fintech heavyweights with valuations over $1 billion.
According to the annual FinTech Report from PwC, cumulative investment globally will exceed $150 billion in 2017.
As of this year, transaction value in the U.S. FinTech market alone is over $1 trillion. And the largest segment of this market is 'digital payments', which has done nearly $740 billion in transactions so far this year.
In a global market that is poised for impressive CAGR growth, it pays to understand what consumers and vendors want.
Consider these statistics and future market estimates:
For GlancePay (GET; GLNNF), these statistics are the foundation of a major breakout in the North American restaurant segment, both full service and quick serve.
According to BI Intelligence, quick-service restaurants are increasingly offering mobile order-ahead apps as a way to drive higher revenues.
In 2015, the full-service restaurant industry in North America was worth $286 billion, while the quick service restaurant industry was worth over $230 billion. This is the market GlancePay is targeting, and its growing market share at an impressive rate.
#3 The #1 Payment App in Canada, Closing in on 40 percent North American Market Share
The app only launched in September 2016, and already it has 230 signed locations. That's just the beginning: There are over 5,000 restaurants in the Metro Vancouver area alone, and GlancePay's is planning to corner the market.
It has first-mover advantage in Western Canada, where there are only one or two platforms that will be able to build sufficient networks in any region.
GlancePay (GET; GLNNF) is already the No. 1 mobile full service restaurant payment app in Canada, ranking at over 92 percent of mobile pay app downloads. It's also making big waves across North America.
As of August 2017, over 18,000 users were making mobile payments with GlancePay.
And revenues have spiked over 664 percent since it launched.
GlancePay seems to be way ahead of this game, but it's done this before, so we're not surprised.
All of the tech is proprietary, and several patent applications have already been filed, including for picture information and micro-location servicing. It's all tech that can be applied outside of restaurants because GlancePay is unusually forward-thinking: It's already tapping into the raging cannabis market, and is developing an in for the cryptocurrency market.
Deloitte estimates the legal recreational use marijuana industry could be worth a whopping $22.6 billion annually. In other words, more than the combined sales of beer, wine and spirits-all of which GlancePay is eyeing for mobile pay market share.
And it's doing it all with unmatched anti-fraud protection-one of the biggest challenges facing this tech segment. Right now, the company says the launch of its anti-fraud technology over 7 months ago, it's reported 0 percent fraud.
Its in-app marketing is also a disruptive addition to this space. Merchants can do location-based targeted communication, with digital receipts offering advertising opportunities. And they only need an hour to get up and running with GlancePay.
And revenue streams are locked and loaded. These are all the ways GlancePay can earn, now and in the future:
#4 Cut-Throat Competition - No Problem: GlancePay Casts Its Net Wider
So, this is a brilliant market with massive growth potential-but its future is still up for grabs, and that's precisely because it hasn't been holistic enough.
Only 14 percent of Android/Samsung users ever use Android or Samsung Pay. And Apple Pay has spent three years and a ton on money on promotion and still can't get past 6 percent usage.
It's the holistic approach that's lacking, and this is why only Walmart Pay has broken the ceiling.
Since March, the first-time use of Walmart Pay increased by 31.7 percent to 19.1 percent of respondents. That's because everything is integrated, streamlined, and lets you do more than just pay. Walmart Pay authenticates users before checking out, allows them to use coupons, promos, rewards, gift card balances and a number of other options prior to paying. It also lets you order ahead for groceries and pick them up at the curb, and even has financial services.
GlancePay (GET; GLNNF) offers a similar portfolio of value-added solutions, which make it stand out-like Walmart Pay-in a market that the first round of giant apps hasn't gotten wrong.
GlancePay has positioned itself right between two giants, on two continents-in terms of technology:
In the U.S. space, we have Square, which is enjoying a stellar stock price run. Square is now worth nearly $10 billion. But it has more of a merchant focus and requires hardware that is attached to your phone.
And then in China-the biggest mobile pay app market in the world-we have the behemoth, Alipay, which allows the user to initiate a payment to a merchant. And while Alipay is doing $1.7 trillion in business annually, it isn't publicly traded.
GlancePay is eyeing the gap between these two offerings. A sort of Alipay for North America: The easy payment process that has taken China by storm, but with more of a merchant focus like Square-minus the burdensome hardware, which is more conducive to fraud.
It's filling the gap where Alipay and Square left off-it's doing what Groupon does as well. You can buy deals and receive digital coupons, but it's smart. It knows where you are and what you like, so deals are relevant to the customer.
This gap GlancePay is seeking to fill is a lucrative one, and we believe it's moving quickly towards its end goal.
#5 Pre-Trend Spotters Who Create Attractive Acquisition Targets
Desmond Griffin, the co-founder of GlancePay, and the mastermind of Glance Technologies (GET; GLNNF), is a household name in Vancouver, where he's known for turning everyday problems and inconveniences into attractive takeover targets.
Griffin built PayByPhone from concept to a wildly successful mobile app for parking payments, servicing millions of customers in over 100 cities around the world. Then he sold it for nearly $45 million and it is currently owned by Volkswagen, which needed a new stream of revenue and a distraction from its emissions scandal.
He has every intention of doing the same with GlancePay, but this time the market is many times bigger, and we believe the takeover potential to be much more attractive. We're not just talking about parking anymore-we're talking hundreds of thousands of restaurants, an explosive new cannabis market, and cryptocurrencies.
That's why he's teamed up with Penny Green, GlancePay president and co-founder, and one of PROFIT magazine's W100 list of top Canadian female entrepreneurs. She was also at the head of one of the PROFIT 500 fastest-growing companies, Bacchus Law Corporation, in 2015 and 2016, and she knows how to create shareholder value. Additionally, she was the co-founder and director of Merus Labs International Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company that secured some $32 million in annual EBITDA.
The Bottom Line:
GlancePay (GET; GLNNF ) appears to be on the cutting edge of everything that is happening in FinTech. It's doing things PayPal can't, and ultimately, there are very few competitors in this space, unless you combine Alipay, Square and Groupon into a single entity.
As FinTech bursts at the seams with innovation, GlancePay has already taken Canada, and now it's preparing to take North America with an easy-to-use, simple solution.
When you consider that GlancePay only launched in late 2016 and already claims the top spot among Canada's mobile payment apps, and is closing in on major North American market share right out of the starting blocks, we're expecting this FinTech company to be a leader in this fast-paced revolution.
And when it opens up its digital wallet to legalized recreational cannabis and digital currencies, convenience might have a new name.
Other industry players and companies to keep on your watchlists:
Pure Storage Inc (NYSE: PSTG): Data platforms are also a key asset in protecting companies against cyber-attacks. Pure Storage, Inc is a data platform focused on delivering fast, optimized and cloud-capable solutions for its customers while keeping data security as a top priority. This is another company about which investors can be optimistic.
While posting a Q2 loss, the company surprised both analysts and investors with a higher-than-expected revenue. Next to this, its stock price jumped almost 15 percent on the news that the company appointed Cisco veteran Charles Giancarlo. Strong guidance and a positive forecast for the data storage markets should keep investors excited for now.
Teradata Corporation (NYSE: TDC): Providing other data platform solutions, Teradata Corporation specializes in analytic data platforms, analytic applications, and related services. The services are used around the world and its offerings include analytic solutions, ecosystem architecture consulting and hybrid cloud solutions. Teradata Corporation may fly under some investors' radar, but it is absolutely worth looking into.
With a market cap of 3.9 billion, Teradata commands respect in the sector and is bound to see growth as these new technologies become increasingly integrated in the everyday life of consumers. The international reach of Teradata provides exposure to not only the booming U.S. tech industry but also established markets in Asia.
Symantec (NASDAQ: SYMC): This U.S. based cybersecurity giant had a very strong start to 2017 before the integration of Blue Coat and LifeLock caused its stock price to tumble on uncertainty. The company seems to have stabilized now however and analysts expect the company to outperform this year as viruses like Petya and WannaCry leave end-users vulnerable.
Symantec's biggest advantage is its reputation and its liquidity. After it recently announced the takeover of Israeli startup Fireglass and industry peer Skyrcure, investors should expect the company to cement its position and continue its aggressive acquisition program.
Cyren (NASDAQ: CYRN): As a company centered around the protection of web, email and mobile transactions, demand for Cyren's services is spiking. The cloud-based security technology provides a cutting-edge advantage on its competition. Its products are offered through a security-as-a-service business model, ensuring a steady stream of new users.
The technology is cost effective and comprehensive. Many industry heavyweights are already on board and that number is steadily growing. Allowing users to simplify their network infrastructure provides a huge advantage over the competition.
The company boasts a modest $65.62 million market cap, with significant space to grow. The technicals suggest that this stock may currently be overbought and while it is trading at near-52 week lows, it is trading at a discount. With so much to offer, Cyren would make a great entry point into the world of cybersecurity.
Barracuda Networks Inc. (NYSE: CUDA): One of the most well respected names in the cybersecurity space, Barracuda designs and delivers security and data protection solutions. With a market cap of over 1.2 billion this company is well positioned to take advantage of the coming boom in the sector.
The upside for companies like Barracuda goes far beyond the advancement of payment technology, with cybersecurity sure to see incredible growth over the next decade as cryptocurrencies continue to grow and cloud computing increases its influence across industries such as oil and gas. While growth here is likely to be less dramatic than some of the new comers, Barracuda's diversification and name recognition make it a safe long term bet.
By. Meredith Taylor
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