Pollinate has launched with a growth capital investment round from a consortium of global industry leaders.
Mastercard, Motive Partners and EFM Asset Management (EFM) will join RBS as both investors in, and partners to, the Pollinate business, which has raised a total of £60 million in funding to date.
Pollinate is the business behind Tyl by NatWest, a next-gen merchant payment platform in competition with the likes of iZettle, Worldpay and Square.
Conceived in 2017, the first deployment of the platform took place in Spring 2019 with the launch of the Tyl in the UK.
It is run by a team of executives including Al Lukies CBE, who founded Monitise in 2003 and in 2014 became business ambassador to then Prime Minister David Cameron.
Other executives include Pollinate co-founder, president and CEO Jonathan Hughes who was previous COO at rival Worldpay.
Other co-founders include Fiona Roach Canning who previously ran operations and customer experience at Nectar and Tim Joslyn who ran technology strategies at Worldpay.
Its CCO David Beresford comes from Equiniti Group and group HR director Anna Moore joins the firm from a similar role at Marks and Spencer.
The firm said it is now in advanced discussions with other leading retail banks around the world to introduce its tech, which it hopes will allow incumbent banks to compete effectively with a new breed of tech disruptors.
The firm said its technology ‘wraps around’ a bank’s legacy payment systems, providing on boarding, portals and loyalty programs, to help them understand and engage with their customers better.
Commenting on the announcement Alison Rose, Deputy CEO of NatWest Holdings and CEO of commercial and private banking at RBS said, “I am hugely excited to announce the creation of a global merchant services company with Mastercard, Motive Partners and EFM Asset Management.
“Partnering with such high-quality companies, each of us bringing unique expertise and skills, allows for a truly international offering, benefitting not only our customers but the wider merchant acquiring space.
Al Lukies, Pollinate CEO added: “Retail banks around the world are facing common issues, but they remain the only ones in the payment chain who can connect directly with both merchants and consumers.
“They are therefore best placed to help SME’s process transactions, support their balance sheets, and grow their businesses, creating a virtuous circle between the bank, merchants, and consumers.
“As we know consumers increasingly expect a more personalised service from the businesses they interact with, regardless of their size, so at its heart Pollinate is about relationships and growth through connection – our platform enables relationships to be strengthened through fantastic digital experiences, and real-time data processing analytics and integrations.”