More than prepaid: Payoneer broadens its sales pitch ahead of public listing

Payoneer has changed its logo messaging to emphasize a more diversified range of services — and in doing so, joins a growing number of fintechs working to reshape their identities.

Payoneer, which merged with the special-purpose acquisition company FTAC Olympus Acquisition Corp., supports e-commerce and payments, as well as services for new verticals like e-commerce and digital marketing. Its name is a portmanteau of "pay" and "pioneer." While the name isn't changing, its new rainbow-themed logo emphasizes that it has pushed beyond its original payment offerings.

Other companies have embarked on similar rebrandings. TransferWise, which launched in 2010, changed its name this year to Wise in anticipation of its IPO. Fattmerchant, a payment processor that launched in 2014, became Stax this year.

All of these changes were made to reflect the companies' evolution. In the payments industry, startups and global card networks alike have had to emphasize that they do more than just handle payments. Mastercard, for example, has been emphasizing its role as a partner to the tech industry. As part of this process, the company dropped the uppercase C from its name in 2016, and removed its name from its logo in 2019; prior to that, Mastercard's logo hadn't changed in 20 years.

"When getting a public equity quote, you don't want people who don't understand the nuances and arcane aspects of payments to get bogged down in trying to figure out what this company does," said Steve Mott, principal of the consulting firm BetterBuyDesign. "TransferWise was a good name, but for them to go into something else besides transfers, it made sense to change the name."

In Payoneer's situation, it is important for the marketing message to steer people away from their impression that the company is probably still just a prepaid card provider, Mott said.

"That branding gets in your mind and you will think of it first, so you want to change that perception if your company has changed," Mott added.

On occasion, a company will continue to advance its technology and services without a need to change its name.

"Square is the one that hasn't had to do any type of rebranding because the name didn't convey anything about what it really did, other than it was a square-shaped reader," Mott said. "Some marketing people might say, well everyone will just think of that reader, but Square has been able to transcend with that name to do anything it wants."

For Payoneer, it wasn't quite that easy, considering the company has been in the payments ecosystem for more than 15 years.

"When we decided to go through this rebranding process we realized it is not easy to define what Payoneer is," said Jonny Steel, vice president of marketing at Payoneer. "Being around 15 years in the world of fintech is significant, and we've been through some stages and changes as a company."

Payoneer leaders felt the company brand "wasn't really articulated as to where we are today and where we want to go," Steel said.

Jon Parker Lee

Even though its traditional orange color is still present, Payoneer's marketing rebrand brings a new color scheme highlighting the color spectrum to illustrate the world of open digital commerce as something available to everyone, everywhere, Steel noted.

The company stayed with the name Payoneer, playing off the concept of being a pioneer in payments technology and now digital commerce. The company started as a prepaid card provider and then a mass payout provider by linking the card to its platform and integrating it with businesses seeking to pay freelancers and gig workers. Next came business-to-business and digital commerce services.

FTAC is in the process of reorganizing Payoneer. SPACs like FTAC essentially raise funds through their own IPOs, then take another company public by merging with that company.

The reorganization this year did not affect the Payoneer leadership team, but shifted its focus to a more appealing investment option — a company that can deliver digital needs as well as it delivers cross-border B2B and e-commerce marketplace payments across 190 countries.

The rebranding is another in a series of advancements by payments providers that have become more full-service in their offerings to merchant clients and bank partners.

"If you find a place where you can define a niche and you pay attention and deliver value in serving merchants, it's pretty easy to be successful," Mott said.

The examples range from PayPal, Square, Stripe, Adyen and Marqeta, which had a similar journey to Payoneer in starting as a prepaid card for underbanked or nonbanked and transforming itself into a technology company powering payments for the gig economy, as well as services and virtual cards for digital banks. Marqeta launched its IPO earlier this month.

"Payoneer is as good as anyone in the cross-border space," Mott said. "The kink in the armor might be the question of how do you get bigger. Do you do it by getting in the way of Adyen and Stripe, which ultimately have the same goals in serving merchants?"

Payoneer is in a good position because it has delivered value, Mott noted. "If you are good and stick with it, and serve merchants well, you are going to have a payday."

Payoneer wants to take advantage of the data it collects and knowledge it has of merchant clients operating in e-commerce marketplaces — and convert that into a service offering capital to help businesses meet goals.

"Seeing a manufacturer selling online in dozens of marketplaces, we get a full view of their global business," Payoneer's Steel said. "We see all of the money coming in and the stability of the business and it gives us data and confidence to know we trust this business and how much we can offer them in working capital and a sensible settlement period to repay it."

Payoneer's Capital Advance program offers capital based on the average marketplace payouts of the seller — and can get as high as up to 140% of the seller's monthly volume, which can be as low as $1,000 but capped at $750,000. Different settlement periods and percentages are established, generally with an estimated payback period of six months.

"This gives us this opportunity to do these things that banks and others struggle to do because we have the data and the confidence in these businesses," Steel said.

Because of that, Payoneer can quickly determine a capital offer it can make to a merchant who is possibly seeking some extra money for supplies just prior to a holiday season — and set it up with a single-click on the platform for the merchant to obtain the money.

"E-commerce is the biggest way we can do working capital," Steel added. "But as we move into merchant services, many have their own brand and websites and are not just selling in marketplaces."

In operating like a payment facilitator in these instances, Payoneer plans to roll out a service later this year to provide more options for small business owners to accept payments on their websites, tap into that growth and provide access to working capital.

Payoneer continues to have a major presence in New York City and Tel Aviv, but it has added locations in other markets, including Hong Kong, Serbia, Dubai and Vietnam. The company has been backed by investments from TCV, Susquehanna Growth Equity, Viola Ventures, Wellington Management, Nyca Partners and Temasek, among others.