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CompanyProfile
ISO/MLS contact:
Laura Wagner
Chief Executive Officer
310-213-5495
https://calendly.com/digitzs/discoverycall/
www.digitzs.com
Helping high-tech firms collect payments
I SOs and merchant level salespeople (MLSs) could platform has to tell the city to obtain a merchant
average $5,000 a month in commissions for each services account, arrange to accept American
client they land for Digitzs Solutions Inc., accord- Express Co. cards and find a payment gateway.
ing to Laura Wagner, Chief Executive Officer and At that point, the platform loses about half of
co-founder of the Santa Monica, Calif.-based company its potential customers due to the difficulty of
launched in 2014. making those arrangements. Even if the platform's
customer accomplishes those tasks, it can take a
Why so much? Because instead of contacting merchants week or two, compared with less than two seconds
individually, Digitzs salespeople make their pitches to to board with the help of Digitzs.
platform providers that serve multiple merchants. "If
you're sick of going out after Ma and Pa Kettle for pennies According to Wagner, platforms also benefit because
in a hugely competitive space, turn your focus on the Digitzs shares the merchant services fee with them. If the
high-tech world," Wagner said. platform merely tells a client to find its own merchant
services provider, the platform doesn't get a portion of the
But finding those potential clients requires new ways revenue, she said.
of prospecting and a long sales cycle, Wagner added.
The company's salespeople seek third-party software Wagner noted that another advantage accrues for
platform providers, sometimes called independent platforms because Digitzs splits fees. In the example of
software vendors. The platforms help units of government city traffic fines, suppose the platform charges 2 percent of
levy fines, nonprofits solicit donations, entertainment a $100 fine for the value-added software. Without Digitzs,
venues charge ticket fees, property managers collect the person charged with the fine would pay $102 to the
rent, marathon organizers register runners and retailers city, and the platform would invoice the city monthly for
receive payments, Wagner noted. its fee. Digitzs would instead split the payment, sending
$100 to the city and $2 to the platform.
Take the example of a platform serving nonprofits.
According to Wagner, the platform might develop cloud- Also, platforms take on no risk and pay no upfront costs
based technology that can help a charity enlarge its with Digitzs, Wagner pointed out. If the platforms were
community, inspire audiences, build a database, plan to become actual payfacs - taking on the risks and tasks
events, manage memberships and track volunteers. of acquiring – they would have to register with the card
Digitzs can help the platform accept donations and thus brands, maintain lines of credit and underwrite clients.
look like a payment facilitator (payfac) in the eyes of its
customers. Payfacs typically offer payments and provide Illustrious founders
business services software or simply handle payments for
software platforms. Besides Wagner, the team of founders at Digitzs includes
David Jaques, former Chief Financial Officer of PayPal Inc.;
Advantages for platforms Linda S. Perry, former Head of Acquirer and Processor
Sales at Visa Inc.; Edward Katzin, former Worldwide
Wagner described how the process works without Digitzs: Head of Payments at Apple Inc.; Stacey Moore, the
Digitzs platform architect; and Ben Way, who has built a
• Suppose a city signs up with a platform that helps reputation as an artificial intelligence marketing expert.
collect traffic fines. People charged with a traffic
offense who visit the city site and click a "pay" Digitzs hasn't appeared on Shark Tank, but the television
button are directed to the platform's site to make show's Kevin Harrington, who has equity in the company,
the payment, usually without the users knowing said, "Digitzs will be the next big disruptor in payments."
they have left the city's site. At press time, Digitzs was No. 1 among private companies
on the CNBC Crowdfinance Index with commitments of
• But before that can happen on a platform that more than $8 million.
doesn't work with a company like Digitzs, the
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