CellPoint secures $34m investment, launches AI payments service

By Divya Shah

CellPoint Digital has secured a $34m investment from Toscafund, managed by its private equity affiliate Penta Capital, and launched Zenith, an AI-powered decisioning platform designed for the airline and hospitality sectors. 

Wth Penta Capital appointing Kevin Murphy as Group CEO and Michael Kelly as Chairman to lead the company’s transformation and expansion of its AI-driven payments strategy. 

Zenith has been developed as an AI decisioning layer that sits above payment orchestration platforms, including both CellPoint’s own technology and third-party solutions. The platform uses payment data to automate decision-making processes, helping airlines and hospitality businesses improve payment approval rates, reduce transaction costs, recover lost revenue and gain greater visibility into payment performance. 

Kevin Murphy, Group CEO of CellPoint, said the platform was designed to improve commercial outcomes for travel and hospitality businesses. 

“Zenith uses AI to raise approval rates, cut the cost of payments, recover lost revenue and give CFOs a live view of what their payment stack is actually doing. The $34m investment lets us build it at pace,” he said. 

Murphy added that the company plans to leverage its customer base, data assets and technology capabilities to strengthen its position in the AI-powered payments market. 

Zenith can be deployed without requiring companies to replace their existing payments infrastructure, enabling airlines and hotels to integrate AI-driven optimisation into their current payment ecosystems. 

The funding will also support the creation of 50 new roles across product development, data, artificial intelligence, sales and partnerships in Europe, the Americas and Asia.  

In addition, CellPoint is strengthening its leadership team with the appointment of Patrick Uckermark as Chief Product and Technology Officer, where he will oversee the company’s AI and data strategy. 

Steven Scott, Managing Partner at Penta Capital, said the investment reflects confidence in CellPoint’s ability to deliver measurable financial outcomes for airline and hospitality clients through AI-enabled payments technology. 

The move highlights increasing interest in applying artificial intelligence to payment optimisation, particularly in sectors such as aviation and hospitality where payment performance can have a direct impact on revenue, margins and operational efficiency