September 29, 2009
CashEdge consulting investment bankers to file IPO in 18-24 months, CEO says
CashEdge, a privately held payment solutions provider, is speaking with investment bankers to evaluate an initial public offering, CEO Sanjeev Dheer said. The company could be ready to file an IPO in 18 to 24 months, he said.
Based in New York City, CashEdge will look to hire an investment banker in Q2, Dheer said. The company's 2008 revenue was nearly USD 50m. CashEdge provides mobile and person-to-person payments and small business payments for financial institutions' retail and small business banking customers. Known as Intelligent Money Movement, this service is offered directly from within the bank's online and mobile banking applications.
Two years ago, industry sources told this news service that CashEdge could be a takeover target for Fidelity National Information Services, Fiserv and Intuit. Sanjeev said CashEdge has talked to some of the named buyers, "but we believe we have the profile to be a public company," he said. "Not that we wouldn't entertain discussions." Its corporate counsel is Wilson Sonsini.
CashEdge serves US banks and credit unions as well as wealth management firms. Its growth is driven by signing up new banks, working with banks to get bank customers to utilize the payment services and increasing transactions, Dheer said. In 2008, it processed nearly USD 50bn in online fund transfers for bank customers, according to the company.
The company announced today that four financial institutions, including a top- 10 bank, are adding its latest service, POPmoney. This new technology allows bank customers to make electronic payments from within the online or mobile banking site, via the recipient's email address or mobile phone number. It is the first email and mobile person-to-person payments service for banks and goes live by year-end. In one year, Dheer said the company could expand its banking services to new markets, such as India, which has a relatively large banking system.