eftpos buys Beem It to enhance Aussie consumers’ digital life

By Edil Corneille

Australia’s debit payments company, eftpos, announced today its purchase of Beem It, an Australian payments app that enables consumers to send and receive money in seconds using their phone, regardless of who they bank with.

eftpos CEO, Stephen Benton, said the signing was a logical move for eftpos as a trusted Australian payments brand that has access to hundreds of thousands of Australian merchants, millions of consumers and is quickly moving into digital payments.

“We are very excited to complete this purchase as a key element to eftpos’ strategy to diversify and move further into the digital ecosystem,” Benton said.

“Australians are rapidly moving much of their daily lives to mobile and Beem It is a great Australian-owned and operated option for them to embrace digital payments. It’s easy to use, secure and free to download.

“In many countries, mobile wallets are the main App for day to day life, particularly throughout Asia and the Nordics. These Apps make life easier and add value, seamlessly and securely.

“eftpos the payment system will remain wallet agnostic and be the rails that support a variety of digital wallets.”

As at the end of August 2020, there had been 1.4 million downloads of the Beem It App, with ratings remaining consistently high of up to 4.9 out of 5.

Benton said that looking forward, Beem It, along with other eftpos assets such as its digital identity solution, connectID, could be utilised to create compelling innovations for consumers, merchants and banks to enhance digital commerce while leveraging existing industry investments.

A spokesperson for the sellers said, “Today’s announcement marks a significant step forward for the future development of Beem It and the expansion in the use of digital wallets as a whole in Australia. Since its launch as a start-up business just two years ago, Beem It has proved to be extremely popular with over one million downloads and hundreds of thousands of regular users, particularly its instant payment, split bill and expenses tracking features.

“Its innovative technology is a formative example of the creative ideas and opportunities that have opened up in the area of Australian payments in recent years and we’ve been delighted to support the company in offering exciting new ways to consumers to pay and transact. Under its new owner, Beem It will be able to take full advantage of the infrastructure, cost benefits and partnerships offered by eftpos which will help it grow faster and expand the innovative services it currently provides. We believe this transaction will secure Beem It’s future as a leading digital wallet provider and we wish the company and its team the very best for the future.”