Intelligentpos buyers seek new Scots tie-ins

The Swedish software specialist that last year snapped up Edinburgh-based tech start-up Intelligentpos is seeking further partnerships and deals in the Scottish marketplace.

Stockholm-based iZettle, which enables users to take payments, and register and track sales, hinted at the move as it unveiled its new offices in Edinburgh, its biggest UK base.

The company acquired the Scottish business in September for an undisclosed sum to boost its commerce offering for small businesses and become a “one-stop shop” for the sector globally.

Since the deal, payment technology outfit Intelligentpos has almost tripled its headcount, launched what it says is a world-first loyalty product known as Order and Pay for independent cafés and retailers, and is now live in eight markets across Europe.

Speaking at the new offices in Edinburgh’s Westport, which can accommodate up to 120 staff, iZettle co-founder and chief executive Jacob de Geer told Scotland on Sunday that the business is open to finding new firms to work with, and flagged up marketing services as one complementary area.

As for Intelligentpos, which moved into its first offices in Leith in 2012, the company and iZettle had “worked together for quite some time, just as partners, and then eventually came to the conclusion that this was actually a perfect fit”.

Intelligentpos co-founder Robin Knox said the new office represents “a big milestone in the coming together of the two businesses. It’s the materialisation of the acquisition – it’s the recognition from iZettle that Scotland is a serious second headquarters, and recognition of the talent here and the ability that we have in terms of the people that we can now add to the team.”

The firm had 25 staff in early 2016, and Knox said the new office will accommodate the 68 it has currently, with the total heading towards 100 by the end of the year, “and who knows where we’ll go after that”.

He added that iZettle, which says it is signing up hundreds of small firms a week, “has placed a lot of investment into us post-acquisition, more than we ever could have dreamed of”.

De Geer added that the new office, and its investment in Edinburgh and Intelligentpos, represents “really how much emphasis we put on to the technology and the product that it has managed to build over the past couple of years”.

He added that iZettle’s ambition “is to make sure that the team here is represented across all our 12 markets where we’re currently active”. These comprise ten in Europe and two in Latin America.

“Our ambition is to grow into new markets – having growth and making sure that we can add more services to our respective markets.”