PayNearMe Wins “Consumer Payments Innovation Award” in 2022 FinTech Breakthrough Awards Program

Growing fintech company earns its third consecutive honor for bill pay innovation

SANTA CLARA, Calif., March 17, 2022 – PayNearMe, the modern and reliable payments platform known for making payments easy for both businesses and consumers, has been selected as winner of the “Consumer Payments Innovation Award” in the sixth annual FinTech Breakthrough Awards program conducted by FinTech Breakthrough, an independent market intelligence organization that recognizes the top companies, technologies and products in the global FinTech market. This is the third consecutive year PayNearMe has been recognized for its innovative solutions; the company was named “Best Consumer Payments Platform” in both 2020 and 2021.

“PayNearMe continues to demonstrate a spirit of market-driven innovation and a focus on optimizing the payment experience,” said James Johnson, Managing Director, FinTech Breakthrough. “Congratulations to the entire PayNearMe team for being our choice for this year’s ‘Consumer Payments Innovation’ award’.”

The FinTech Breakthrough Awards judging panel, which is composed of senior-level FinTech professionals, recognized PayNearMe for its breakthrough innovation, Smart Link™, which removes friction from the payments process. With PayNearMe Smart Link technology, businesses can send personalized, reusable links that move customers directly into registered payment flows, enabling payments in a few short clicks. 

“Smart Link is a great example of how PayNearMe is re-thinking payments and using technology innovation to flip the script on old school payment experiences,” said John Minor, SVP Product, PayNearMe. “We designed Smart Link to deliver value in everything that happens before and around the transaction. Not only does this technology facilitate payments in the fewest steps possible, but it also enables businesses to conveniently embed Smart Links in QR codes, digital wallets or payment reminder messages sent via email, SMS or push notifications.”

Many PayNearMe clients have taken to printing a QR code embedded with a Smart Link on every bill, which allows their customers to scan the code with their phone and pay immediately with a few simple clicks. It’s frictionless, fast and guides customers toward digital payments. 

PayNearMe clients also are consistently reducing customer service-led payments up to 70% by having contact center agents push a Smart Link to the customer via text or email. The agent can stay on the line while the customer completes and verifies the process.   

“PayNearMe’s technology platform, strong business model and ever-increasing list of impressive customers, shows they are shaping the market and advancing innovation,” said Johnson.

“It’s an honor to receive an award from FinTech Breakthrough for the third consecutive year. In the past year, we’ve introduced new capabilities and features that are continuing to push the boundaries of what is possible — and expected — from a bill pay platform,” Minor said. “I’m incredibly proud of the PayNearMe team for its commitment to a relentless customer-first mentality that enables us to prioritize delivering innovation and a best-in-class payment experience.”

The FinTech Breakthrough Awards is the premier awards program founded to recognize the FinTech innovators, leaders and visionaries from around the world in a range of categories, including Digital Banking, Personal Finance, Lending, Payments, Investments, RegTech, InsurTech and many more. The 2022 FinTech Breakthrough Awards program attracted more than 3,950 nominations from across the globe.

About PayNearMe

PayNearMe develops technology that drives better payment experiences for businesses and their customers. Our modern, flexible and reliable platform helps businesses increase customer engagement, improve operational efficiency and drive down the total cost of accepting payments. PayNearMe enables more ways to pay by offering major payment types and channels in a single platform.

PayNearMe today processes all forms of payment including cards, ACH, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal and Venmo, and has enabled cash payments through our proprietary electronic cash network since 2009. PayNearMe cash payments are accepted at more than 40,000 retail locations in the U.S. including participating 7-Eleven®, Walmart®, Walgreens®, Family Dollar®, Casey’s General Stores®, and ACE Cash Express®, among others. 

Thousands of businesses partner with PayNearMe to manage the end-to-end customer payment experience in industries such as Consumer Finance, Property Management, Insurance, Utility and Municipality, and iGaming and Sports Betting.

To learn more about PayNearMe, please visit www.paynearme.com. Follow PayNearMe on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. The PayNearMe service is operated by PayNearMe MT, Inc., a licensed money transmitter.

About FinTech Breakthrough
Part of Tech Breakthrough, a leading market intelligence and recognition platform for technology innovation and leadership around the globe, the FinTech Breakthrough Awards program is devoted to honoring excellence in Financial Technologies and Services companies and products. The FinTech Breakthrough Awards provide public recognition for the achievements of FinTech companies and products in categories including Payments, Personal Finance, Wealth Management, Fraud Protection, Banking, Lending, RegTech, InsurTech and more. For more information visit FinTechBreakthrough.com.