Special Report: As the global retail scene changes faster than Black Friday fashions, a Sydney-based scale-up has been making a name for itself in the payments world by keeping merchants ahead of the trends.
With several significant funding rounds to date and agreements with major organisations including Visa, Deutsche Bank and Viva Energy, DataMesh is now gearing up for a Series B raise and potentially an IPO within the next 12-24 months.
The company’s plan is to leverage DataMesh’s high-margin SaaS (Software as a Service) success, extending its reach into more key APAC locations and potentially other broader markets, including North America.
Many Australians have not yet heard about DataMesh, but many would have used its game-changing solutions including the Unify platform when making digital purchases – either in person or online.
But DataMesh is a familiar name among domestic and international retailers and financial institutions and acquirers. An “acquirer” in this context is an organisation that sits between merchants, card payment networks such as Visa and the cardholder’s bank or issuer.
Founded in 2018 by ex-bank executives, DataMesh spotted a major gap in the payments ecosystem – the ‘tech debt’ between banks, merchants and acquirers in increasingly global retail markets.
DataMesh’s Unify platform gives all retailers the same power and flexibility to meet the needs of consumers in the same way only previously enjoyed by major corporations, yet without the need for huge IT budgets and teams.
Its SaaS product lets merchants effortlessly juggle multiple acquiring relationships, ensuring smoother transactions, even if one provider experiences an outage.
Co-founder and CEO Mark Nagy said: “Thanks to platforms capabilities, we’re getting to the point where DataMesh is being named in RFPs (request for proposals) as mandatory solution partner.”
Nagy and his team also recognised retailers’ need to meet and better anticipate rapidly evolving customer expectations and preferences.
One of the sectors where its tech is supporting significant change is the fuel and convenience sector.
The company is assisting in the transformation from old-style fuel retailers to full-service hypermarkets, by facilitating trends like ERP integrations, unattended in-store purchases, mobile device applications, and quick service food. It all has to be integrated, linked and managed under a single solution.
“We’re seeing a shift where petrol stations aren’t just fuel stops – they’re becoming destinations where you can grab a burger, a coffee, fuel, get your car and even your dog washed,” Nagy said.
“Our systems provide the flexibility to accommodate that multifaceted type of business.”
Early adopters of Unify include OTR and Viva Energy, the company that runs Shell-branded fuel sites across Australia. DataMesh is now future proofing those retailers.
“Thanks to its design, its flexibility and the fact that it’s cloud-native, Unify allows an organisation to very quickly unlock a whole set of tools they’ve probably never had access to before,” Nagy added.
Nagy noted that another standout feature of the platform is its world-first data analytics package.
“We show our customer partners how they can better understand their client relationships, and have greater knowledge of each and every one of their clients. That’s turning into dollars via increased footfall and basket size.”
Supported by AI, DataMesh even provides insights for merchants providing fungible and non-tangible goods, as well as services.
“You can’t scan a tank of fuel or an intangible item, such as a service category,” Nagy said.
“But we pick up those assets as well. That means we get a much more accurate picture of what consumers are buying, and what their future needs and behaviours will be.”
Beyond Australia, DataMesh is set on further expansion in key APAC countries and launching into other markets such as Europe and the Middle East.
A recent partnership with Deutsche Bank is helping DataMesh to grow Unify’s reach across 14 Asian markets. It’s gaining ground fast in Singapore, Vietnam and India, streamlining cross-border payments without the need for merchants to buy expensive new hardware.
With nearly $100 million in funding already secured, DataMesh is now gearing up for growth and is potentially even considering an IPO within the next 12-24 months.
“This is a really nice cash-box of a business. It’s generating great revenue from enterprise level customers, so they’re very reliable,” Nagy said.
“From an investor’s perspective, like most SaaS companies, it makes DataMesh a really attractive story.”
This article was developed in collaboration with DataMesh Group, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.
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