Pairpoint & Mastercard: Autonomous Payments in EoT

Pairpoint and Mastercard’s embedded payments technology is set to enable autonomous transactions across the UK and Europe, transforming the freight, shipping, fleet, and logistics industries. 

At Pairpoint, we have formed a partnership with Mastercard that empowers fleet, freight, shipping, and logistics operators to enable machines to autonomously transact on their behalf. 

This new service, which connects our platform with Mastercard Gateway, allows fleet operators’ vehicles to make authorised direct payments at charging or fuel stations, while freight companies can enable payments for pre-approved connections along a route, such as port charges, handling, and storage, among various other applications. 

Jorge Bento, CEO of Pairpoint, said: “Building upon the momentum of contactless and now smartphone payments, the next step is to allow devices and vehicles to pick up the bill on a user’s behalf. This is now possible through the partnership between Vodafone, Sumitomo, and Mastercard. Together, we are offering customers a secure, simple way to authorise their machines to make transactions, while generating new revenue streams for businesses and advancing the integration of IoT and blockchain technology.” 

Devices enabled by Pairpoint will be assigned standards-based digital identities stored within their SIMs, which can be used to enable interactions and transactions with other authorised devices on our platform. This service builds on existing Internet of Things (IoT) technology that allows unattended connected devices to transmit and receive data autonomously, enabling, for example, a shipping container to report its weight and available capacity. 

This globally scalable solution will be available to all, supporting payment credentials across any card network. It is set to launch in the UK, with a phased rollout across Europe. 

Maria Parpou, Executive Vice President, Gateway Services at Mastercard, said: “The explosion of digital payments has unlocked the potential for commerce across and between any device. We look forward to working closely with Vodafone and Sumitomo to help business customers unlock the potential of Economy of Things technologies.” 

This partnership capitalises on the extensive reach of Vodafone’s global IoT platform, one of the world’s largest with 175 million connections, Sumitomo’s industrial prowess across 66 countries and regions, and Mastercard Gateway’s payment acceptance solutions, which connect over 200 financial institutions across more than 80 markets globally.