ERTICO Partner PluService, leader in Italy for offering IT and digital solutions for mobility companies, announces the entry of SisalPay| 5 into its share capital with a controlling stake. The operation follows the one occurred in April of last year, which had already seen SisalPay acquiring 30% of myCicero, the company set up by PluService two years earlier and which is the owner of the homonymous most widespread digital platform in Italy in mobility and parking ticketing. PluService and myCicero reported net revenues of around 9.5 million euros in 2019. PluService solutions are installed in almost 300 Italian transport companies; myCicero is the leader in Italy in the mobility and parking ticketing sector, with almost 2 million registered users and more than 10 million tickets sold in 2019.
SisalPay| 5, born in 2019 from the union of the bank Banca 5-Intesa Sanpaolo – in the proximity payments sector – and SisalPay in the payment service sector, is the first proximity banking company in Italy, with a widespread network, perfectly integrated with the digital systems, of about 50,000 Non-Banking Correspondents (tobacconists, bars, newsagents) present even in the smallest hamlets of the country.
“In over 30 years of activity – says Mr Giorgio Fanesi, founder and president of PluService – we have accompanied passenger transport companies, our customers, in the digital revolution, introducing automation in every phase of business process activities. We have been assisting them by providing the tools to satisfy an increasingly evolved and aware demand. For years we have been working with SisalPay to facilitate payment methods for mobility services to all citizens. Today, together with the most widespread payment network on the national territory, we are pleased to start an industrial, – rather than financial – partnership, with the aim of strengthening the leadership of smart mobility services”.
The mobility ticketing market in Italy is estimated at around 30 billion euros per year. Within this large sector, payments linked to local mobility (Local Public Transport and Parking) are still heavily under-digitized: in 2019 less than 3% of the total value of tickets were sold through digital channels, thus showing great opportunities for growth for the two Italian companies.
“All the latest market analysis – adds Mr Fanesi – indicate the ease of access to mobility services as a key to success for the promotion of Italy’s tourist and cultural heritage. We wanted this operation precisely to equip our companies [PluService and myCicero] with the right size to guide this process of digitization of our country”. In PluService’s plans there are important investments to strengthen the offer of MaaS, Mobility as a Service. Such investments are translated into the integration in the platform myCicero of all modes of transport, including the new vehicles of electric micro-mobility, which facilitate the access to the city centres and territories and that enable to live innovative experiences of sustainable tourism and conscious consuming.
“The investment in PluService and myCicero, which are among the most interesting digital companies in Italy today, confirms SisalPay | 5’s desire to accelerate the path towards innovation and to establish itself as an integrated ecosystem of leading services in digital payments. – explains Emilio Petrone, SisalPay| 5 CEO. SisalPay| 5, which since its launch has set itself the goal of bringing simplicity, innovation and security in everyday payments, focuses on mobility as an area for business evolution and diversification”.
Source: PluService
