AstroPay launches Payment Links for SMEs in Latin America

By Edlyn Cardoza

AstroPay, the online payment solution of choice of over five million users globally, today announced the expansion of Payment Links across Latin America, now launching in Peru, Chile, Mexico, and Colombia. This is part of the company’s plans to introduce it worldwide following the first launch in Brazil in December 2021.

Payment Links is AstroPay’s newest capability, designed for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to enable business owners to collect online and remote payments by simply sharing the link with their customers and get paid instantly, easily and securely.

The small and medium-sized enterprises in Latin America is a priority market for AstroPay. In Colombia, the creation of SMEs in 2021 has grown by 10.6% compared to 2020, from 276,891 to 306,140. SMEs in Chile account for 65.3% (4,857,949) of the total number of formal jobs (7,432,926). SMEs also represent 99% of businesses in Mexico and 99.5% of the total number of formal enterprises in the Peruvian economy.

Mikael Lijtenstein, CEO of AstroPay, said: “Many micro and small businesses could not reach the volume threshold required to make accepting credit card payments a financial feasibility, so they need online payment options that not only open up a world of new revenue streams and opportunities, but make it possible to compete with the big companies. Payment Links are cost-effective and offer flexibility and ease of operations for these businesses.”

Lijtenstein continued, “With AstroPay’s Payment Links capability, micro and small business owners are able to offer their customers a quick, easy, and convenient way to pay, and it’s affordable to accept payments.”

Payment Links enable business owners to make payments using just their mobile number, paying directly with the link they receive. Business owners can also create a link by registering and sharing it with their customers via email or other electronic means of communication. Customers can pay with various local payment methods in their local currency or American dollars.