Ovanti secures major US partnership with Shift4 to launch BNPL offering

• Ovanti inks partnership deal with Shift 4 Payments to launch its US BNPL business
• Partnership covers distribution of Ovanti’s BNPL services to more than 100,000 Shift4 merchants in North America
• Major deal establishes the foundation for Ovanti’s US market launch, enabling the company to scale faster

Special Report: Fintech Ovanti has entered a strategic partnership agreement with Shift 4 Payments, a leading US payment processing and commerce solutions provider listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

Under the three deal with the option to renew for additional one year terms, Ovanti (ASX:OVT) will launch its Ovanti USA BNPL business through Shift4’s network of merchants in the US market.

Shift4 processes more than US$260 billion in transactions annually for more than 200,000 businesses across North America and Canada.

The partnership covers the distribution of Ovanti’s BNPL services to more than 100,000 of Shift4’s merchants in North America, aligning with its focus on the USA market for its BNPL services.

Partnership enables Ovanti to scale faster in US

Ovanti said the major partnership established the foundation for the Ovanti USA market launch, enabling the company to scale faster.

Ovanti’s BNPL platform will help Shift4’s merchants by using real-time cash flow and income data, rather than traditional credit scores, expanding access to financing for US consumers who may not qualify under conventional models used by many major incumbent BNPL providers.

The company said its BNPL service would provide Shift4’s merchants with wider reach and the ability to process more BNPL transactions through Ovanti’s model than many competitors allowed.

Ovanti USA CEO Peter Maher said the company saw enormous opportunity in working closely with Shift4 in the North American market to launch BNPL services to their extensive network of more than 100,000 merchants.

“This major partnership allows Ovanti to scale faster in the US, reach more merchants and consumers, and build a payments ecosystem that delivers affordability and inclusion at scale.

”Ovanti’s merchant settlement facility is backed by stablecoin, which is then converted to fiat, rather than relying on traditional cost- and vertical-restrictive debt facilities.

“This enables faster, lower-cost settlement and the flexibility to scale in ways major incumbent BNPL providers cannot,” Maher said.

“It is a core part of how we differentiate in the US market and position Ovanti as the next era of BNPL.”

He said FICO-based credit models, used by many major BNPL competitors in the US, often failed to reflect a person’s true real-time financial position.

More than 150 million Americans – over half the US adult population – were largely locked out of financial offerings, he said, because they did not fit traditional FICO-driven decisioning models.

“Ovanti’s approach, using open banking and real-time income and cash flow data, powers our AI-driven credit assessment engine.

“This allows us to serve this enormous, underserved audience, representing one of the largest untapped opportunities in US consumer payments.

“With partners like Shift4, we are uniquely positioned to meet this demand.”

Transformational deal for Ovanti

Chairman and executive director Daler Fayziev said this first major agreement with a large US payment processor like Shift4 was a transformational moment for Ovanti.

He said it was a testament to the ability, dedication and network of Maher, who only joined the company last month.

“Signing this first major partnership so quickly is an incredible achievement,” he said.

“Shift4 processes over US$260bn in transactions annually, and this is the first agreement of its kind for BNPL services to their US merchant network.

“Ovanti’s ability to distribute BNPL services to over 100,000 merchants provide a strong platform for expansion into the US BNPL market as we continue to sign more merchants and enterprise partnerships in the coming months.”

Fayziev said by executing this agreement with a NYSE-listed company, Ovanti could access debt warehouse facilities of up to US$100 million.

“Given the scale of this and upcoming merchant agreements, I am personally engaging with major crypto institutions to help expand BNPL protocol debt facilities beyond US$100m,” he said.

Further details of the partnership are set to be released jointly by the two organisations.

This article was developed in collaboration with Ovanti, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.