Mastercard made a double announcement this week, unveiling its acquisition of a leading banking subscription management service and upgrades to its Canadian operation.
The takeover of Gothenburg, Sweden-based Minna Technologies was revealed in a blog post by Gaurav Mittal, Executive Vice President of Ethoca, Mastercard’s fraud and chargebacks prevention service.
Financial terms of the takeover, or when it is expected to conclude, have not been unveiled. However, a statement from Minna’s Chair and CEO, Amanda Mesler, confirmed that the takeover is ‘pending regulatory review’.
Mesler’s statement continued: “This is significant recognition of the strength, growth and impact of Minna Technologies in powering the global subscription economy, partnering with top-tier banks, fintechs and subscription businesses.
“We look forward to joining Mastercard’s world-class team and helping businesses to empower consumers with control, convenience and flexibility in managing their subscriptions and recurring payments.
“Thank you to the entire Minna team for their vision, focus and dedication in helping Minna scale, drive impact and reach over 120 million global users.”
Mastercard has identified value in the global subscriptions space, citing data from Juniper Research showing over 6.8 billion subscriptions globally, a number expected to rise to 9.3 billion by 2028.
The firm stressed that subscriptions provide businesses a way to build deeper relationships with customers, to enable new experiences and deliver products to customers quicker, particularly online products.
“Consumers who want to modify, extend or cancel a subscription, occasionally struggle to find ways to do it easily,” Mittal remarked. “Additionally, card payment blocks, a solution often used when frustrated consumers call into their banks can impede the ability of businesses to re-engage consumers.
“At the end of the day, all of us involved in subscriptions – merchants, financial institutions, payment networks and others – can collectively create a win-win approach for each of us and most importantly, for the consumer.
“There is already a lot of work being invested in this space. And, we see an opportunity to do more together.”
The takeover is Mastercard’s second acquisition in as many months. Just last month, the company acquired Recorded Future, a leading global cyber security firm, for £2.65bn. Throughout the year it has been investing in other areas, including Artificial Intelligence (AI), Open Banking and biometrics.
As well as acquiring Minna, Mastercard has also initiated some upgrades to its offering for small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) in Canada, timing the announcement with the start of ‘Small Business Month’ in the country.
The firm has updated its cardholder offering to Canadian small businesses, including an expansion of its existing tools and solutions. This includes its FlexiRoam, H&R Block and Easy Saving Specials features, whilst offering greater access to the Slack work messaging and Asana work management platforms to its Canadian clients.
At Mastercard, we’re continuing our long-standing support for small business with new resources to help entrepreneurs tackle real-world challenges with confidence,” said Nishant Raina, Vice President, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise, Mastercard, Canada.
“With this latest expansion, we’re giving Small Business card holders even more opportunities to scale efficiently at every stage of their journey with relevant and differentiated solutions to improve their businesses in the long and short term.”
