ShopKeep — the NYC-based mobile payments startup founded by a Brooklyn wine shop owner to help other merchants improve their services with iPad-based payment apps and analytics — is growing. The company has acquired another startup, Payment Revolution, and will now offer payment processing as part of its point-of-sale platform, under a new name, ShopKeep  Payments.

This is an agnostic solution, CEO Norm Merritt told me, which is capable of working with the likes of Apple Pay but also whatever other payment methods and mobile wallets come down the pipeline. ShopKeep is currently “just shy of 15,000 merchants and basically profitable at the margin”, but because it’s also investing in more customer acquisition, it is “unprofitable by choice” at the moment.

The terms of the deal are not being disclosed but from what we understand, it is a tech and talent grab, with Payment Revolution’s CEO, Etie Hertz, taken on a new role at ShopKeep as SVP of Payments.

While Payment Revolution was a bootstrapped startup (and, as with so many of these, quite under the radar as a result), ShopKeep has raised just under $40 million, with $25 million of that coming in the form of a Series C led by Thayer Street Partners with participation from individual investors like Tom Glocer.

Payment Revolution is not a stranger to ShopKeep: the companies were already partnering together in cases where merchants needed payment processing services alongside new POS software.

“We speak to a lot of merchants every month and a lot of them are looking for partners for payments processing, so we would pass them off to Payment Revolution,” said Merritt in an interview.

Adding Payment Revolution to the bigger solution, will mean an even more simplified product offering that caters to the sometimes unpredictable nature of running a small business, and to the fact that many small merchants have no interest in becoming technology nerds on the side.

“Most merchants do not have the time to research the intricacies of payment processing, and because ShopKeep has such transparent pricing options, many of them have requested a simpler payments solution from us,” Merritt said. Features that ShopKeep offers are transparent pricing plans, customized rates (basically that change depending on what kind of business you are), 24/7 customer support; and importantly no termination fees and no contracts.

This also makes some business sense for ShopKeep because the initial contract with a merchant can now potentially reap better margins and more recurring revenue. And it also gives the company a stronger position versus the competition, of which there is a substantial amount, including Square, PayPal, Google, Groupon, Amazon and many, many more.

“There are a lot of folks who are trying to meet the need of merchants in this space,” Merritt acknowledged, but he also noted that ShopKeep has built a position distinct from them. “One thing that sets ShopKeep apart is that we were started by a merchant,” he noted. “That DNA means we have a good reputation. We are on their side.”

The company, Merritt said, is currently in the process of raising a Series D round of funding to continue its expansion. “Right now it’s about building marketshare and getting more merchants to adopt all this new technology,” he added.

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Merritt says ShopKeep also doesn’t lock merchants into any kind of contract. Since it was founded in 2008, the company has on-boarded 16,000 merchants and Merritt says Payment Revolution is on track to do a billion dollars in transaction volume this year. However, the company operates in a very crowded space among players like Square, Amazon, PayPal, Poynt, and First Data’s Clover.
Over the holiday season last year, Square announced that its merchants did over $100 million in sales in a single day, leaving people like me to wonder about the company’s overall transaction volume. Meanwhile larger players like First Data, which owns the sleek point-of-sale system Clover, reported processing $63 billion in transaction volume worldwide in 2014. Though ShopKeep is confident its alternative processing fee will win over merchants, they may find that shop owners like the stability of a set fee. The idea of getting a drone to follow you around and take selfies for you is quite cool. And AirSelfie Holdings is taking it to the next level with AirSelfie2, its second shot at a “flying camera” drone. The AirSelfie2 goes on sale at Best Buy and online at Amazon today, after debuting on AirSelfie’s site last week. It’s a pocket-sized flying camera, which made its original debut at the Consumer Electronics Show in January 2018. While other drones fly sky-high or roam far and wide, AirSelfie has concentrated on the narcissistic focus of shooting pictures and videos of its owners as they go about their lives. It features a 12-megapixel camera for full high-definition photos and videos, a 400mAh 7.4 lithium polymer battery that allows for up to five minutes of flight time (more than double the previous one), and an 85-degree field of view. Additionally, the AirSelfie2 now has an improved 16 gigabytes of memory in a device that weighs just under 3 ounces and is no larger than the average smartphone. Above: AirSelfie2 can fly for 5 minutes, twice as long as its previous version.
“When it comes to capturing life’s important moments on pictures or video, people don’t want to have limitations. With the AirSelfie2, anyone with a smartphone can get the shot they want with a flying camera that weighs next to nothing and can be carried around in your pocket,” said Stefano Cabella, CEO of AirSelfie Holdings, in a statement. “We want to surprise AirSelfie2 users with continuous novelties: Each automatic software update means exciting new features and experiences for the consumer without the need to wait for a new version of the device.” The AirSelfie2 costs $200. Hopefully, it will be an improvement on the original. I tried out an early version of the first AirSelfie in 2017, and I couldn’t get it to fly. The drone would self-destruct as its propellers broke during flight. I tried it out another time and got the same result. But we’ll see how this one does. The new one has a durable anodized aluminum casing. It measures 3.8 inches by 2.8 inches by a half-inch. It has four turbo brushless fans and a range of over 60 feet. AirSelfie2 connects wirelessly to iOS and Android devices, so users can share their shots or upload them to social media sites in seconds. The AirSelfie2 is available in four colors – silver, black, gold, and rose gold. AirSelfie also recently closed a new round of capital, facilitated by Klecha & Co.“We’ve seen tremendous growth and interest in our products since the launch of the AirSelfie1 last year. With the AirSelfie2, we’re redefining what consumers should expect from a flying camera,“ said chief marketing officer Chris Jungfleisch in a statement.
The AirSelfie2 is available now at the AirSelfie official store, Amazon, BestBuy.com, B8ta, B&H, and Adorama, with additional retailers coming soon.
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