New partnership sparks launch of UP Payments to provide integrated payment solutions to North American customers
Payments services company Paysafe Group Plc (LON:PAYS) and Upper Hand, Inc., a provider in cloud-based sports and fitness management software and business services, have just announced that they have entered into a strategic partnership that sees Upper Hand leverage Paysafe’s payments technology to provide Canadian and US businesses operating in the sports and fitness industry with a comprehensive business and financial management offering.
Paysafe will integrate and power a new, fully-automated, user-friendly payment solution, called UP Payments, that will allow for quick, secure and simple payment processing for Upper Hand and its customers.
Founded in 2011, Upper Hand has revolutionized the way coaches, league administrators, trainers, facility owners and other sports management professionals conduct business with its cloud-based mobile platform that includes a suite of online tools to escape the administrative vortex and focus more on training and developing clients. Through the new partnership, the two organizations will offer a unified, cloud-based platform that can save business owners more than 14 hours a week in administrative tasks including payments, enabling them to focus on more profitable and revenue generating activities.
Today’s business owner needs to provide a smooth, seamless payment experience to consumers, it’s expected, and this needs to be seamlessly integrated into their day-to-day operations,” said Todd Linden, CEO, Payment Processing North America, Paysafe. “At Paysafe, our goal is to enable just that to improve the everyday efficiency and profitability of our merchant customers. By working with an innovative software vendor like Upper Hand, we will together be able to offer faster and more seamless payments for businesses in the sports and fitness industry.
For Paysafe, the partnership supports its ongoing investment strategy in North America where it has recently grown its presence to become a top five, non-bank payment processor with a focus on the fast-growing SMB sector. Delivered through state-of-the-art APIs, Paysafe solutions are geared toward integrated transactions initiating from the web, on mobile devices or in store, as well as real-time reporting and analytics which facilitates convergence between brick-and-mortar and online payments.
We are thrilled to work with Paysafe to consolidate our solution and support all types of sports businesses across the sport industry,” said Kevin MacCauley, founder and CEO of Upper Hand. “Our target marketplace businesses need more agile and comprehensive software to manage and grow their business. With our new payment solutions powered by Paysafe, Upper Hand can maximize further revenue streams while simultaneously giving our customers the best experience available.
In the last year alone, Upper Hand’s user base has grown by 125 percent, revenue is up 165 percent, and payments made through the platform have increased more than 14-fold. With its latest acquisition of innovative video analysis technology from Double Blue Sports, Upper Hand is expected to grow by 200 percent by the end of the year.
UP Payments, which is powered by Paysafe, has now been made available to all customers by being integrated across all their platforms.