Accenture (NYSE: ACN) has made a strategic investment, through Accenture Ventures, in Imburse, a cloud-based, payments-as-a-service enterprise platform that simplifies the way businesses around the world access the global payments ecosystem.
Founded in Zurich, Switzerland in 2018, Imburse works with global insurers, banks and other large companies to easily connect outdated legacy systems to the global payments ecosystem through a single connection using application programming interfaces (APIs). Imburse works with several multinational clients, including Generali Group.
As companies navigate the complexity of digital disruption and the changing needs of customers, payments interoperability is an important part of companies’ overall transformation agenda.
“Payments systems at many companies are being stressed by changing consumer preferences - challenging them to offer the latest digital payment options while maintaining efficient operations,” said Sulabh Agarwal, who leads Accenture’s Payments group globally. “Imburse’s payments platform removes integration challenges and acts as the payments glue for organizations, fusing together all payments types including bank transfers, credit cards and digital wallets, to offer the customer seamless, quick and secure experiences.”
Imburse will join Accenture Ventures’ Project Spotlight - an immersive engagement and investment program aimed at connecting emerging technology startups with the Global 2000 to fill strategic innovation gaps. Through the program, Imburse will also have access to Accenture’s global innovation network, and the opportunity to co-innovate with Accenture software engineers, system architects and payments experts.
“We’re excited for Accenture to join our mission to make access to the global payments ecosystem easier for businesses, bringing deep industry expertise and thought leadership,” said Oliver Werneyer, Imburse’s CEO. “Businesses around the world are under immense pressure to digitalize their payments systems and to exceed customer expectations - however the investment, time and resources required is, for many businesses, unjustifiable. Imburse and Accenture will work together to help businesses to fully optimize and future-proof their payment capabilities and leverage payments as a key strategic value driver.”
Tom Lounibos, managing director of Accenture Ventures, added, “Against a rapidly shifting global payments landscape, we see a huge opportunity for Imburse to add value for our clients and we’re excited to work with them to expand to new markets and scale to new industry verticals. Accenture Ventures’ investment in Imburse aligns with our commitment to solve some of the most critical business needs of our clients, which will only become more complex in the future."
“The collaboration between HITS, Generali and Imburse helped us transform and digitize our payments processes in a cost effective manner, creating a better experience for our current and future customers,” said Pietro Carnevale, CEO of House of Insurtech Switzerland (HITS) AG of Generali Switzerland. “This is a great example of how startups and corporations can work together to solve the most pressing needs of the business. While Imburse is already working with insurers to help them update their payments processes, the startup will greatly benefit from the connections, network and industry expertise that Accenture will provide.”
Terms of the investment were not disclosed.