5 MINUTES WITH… BRIDGERPAY’S RAN COHEN

Tell us about your company, products and services.

Our vision is to bring together the digital payments world with a unified payment orchestration software that empowers merchants to increase revenue, boost acceptance rates and reduce the cost of processing using just one API integration.

Our product includes all the tools a modern business needs to connect to multiple payment methods, manage, optimize, and report on them with ease. In substance everything that is needed to solve the present and future payments challenges:

• Bridger Router is a drag-and-drop interface to control a business’s payment stack. It is customizable to any business logic so that the end-user only sees the PSPs they know and want to use
• We offer a PCI Level 1 compliant checkout that is fully customizable to any brand’s look and feel. There is no need for merchants to invest in this type of tech, we have it ready for them
• Bridger Safe tokenizes sensitive information, so users can make multiple purchases easily and their data never travels through the merchant’s servers, hence improving security
• Bridger Retry™ rescues transactions declined for technical reasons by automatically submitting them to another PSP
• Bridger Reports offer insights on all transactions with one click, so merchants can choose the PSPs that are best for them. We are also a data-driven business and can offer insights based on millions of transactions worldwide
• We are the only company in the sector that allows merchants to connect to multiple payment providers in a matter of minutes

What have been the biggest challenges the eCommerce/Payments industry has faced over the past 12 months?

There have been two main challenges: the increase in demand due to the pandemic and the need to manage the ever-growing number of PSPs. Businesses need to fulfil this huge pipeline and at the same time do it in a user-friendly manner. These are exactly the problems that BridgerPay solves

And what have been the biggest opportunities?

Both the above challenges present great opportunities. Digital payments need to become user-centric, the payment experience needs to be in the spotlight. This is exactly what we do at BridgerPay. For us, any challenge brings an opportunity to grow and we always take it

What is the biggest priority for the eCommerce/Payments industry in 2022?

The priority is always to grow volumes. Margins are lower due to third parties used to boost sales. As a consequence, businesses have become aware of every dollar they spend or save. BridgerPay also helps with this: businesses can choose the PSPs with the best rates for every situation to increase their margins

What are the main trends you are expecting to see in the market in 2022?

Growth of buy-now-pay-later solutions, and the challenges posed by 3DS2. Merchants are not technology-ready to provide a smooth payment experience with face recognition, fingerprints, etc.

What technology is going to have the biggest impact on the market this coming year?

Payment orchestration. This is a new layer of software, and without it, it will be impossible to implement any modern business logic, and very hard for legacy technologies to scale up. Payment orchestration is the future and will become the standard.

In 2025 we’ll all be talking about…?

People will be used to paying in many different ways (for example face recognition both in-store and online). Also, we will be talking about a unified digital currency or wallet.

Which person in, or associated with, the eCommerce/Payments industry would you most like to meet?

Many people don’t consider him a payments guy, but he is very much one. Elon Musk.

What’s the most surprising thing you’ve learnt about the eCommerce/Payments sector?

That the client’s confidence in the payment process is the number one reason for a successful transaction. BridgerPay makes this possible.

You go to the bar at the eTailing/Smarter Payments Summit – what’s your tipple of choice?

Monkey 47 gin and tonic. 

What’s the most exciting thing about your job?

We haven’t yet met a payments challenge we couldn’t solve .

And what’s the most challenging?

Hiring and growing the team by onboarding the best possible people.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?

Don’t spend it all at once.

Succession or Stranger Things?

Billionaires ;)