The story of Payconiq

Payconiq lets you pay with a QR code in the shop

Here is the story of a company that raised almost 18 million euros within 3 years to make paying by mobile phone (and specifically by QR code) a success.

Extremely fast growth

Payconiq was founded in 2015. Payconiq let you pay with a QR code. Not to get around Google Pay, but because NFC was not yet sufficiently supported at the time. Barely three years later, the Belgian Bancontact invested 17.6 million euros in Payconiq. Over the five years that followed, Payconiq reported growth by a factor of 10 to 20… and that is hardly surprising, because paying with your mobile had become the norm in the meantime.

Payconiq overtaken

Unfortunately for Payconiq, the banks have caught up enormously. The QR code is now the standard way of paying in every web shop, and in physical shops the QR code has largely been replaced by NFC. On top of that, the banks have made it possible to transfer money directly with payment links, so without an intermediary and without commission. Combined with the emerging SEPA Instant Payments, you can also see immediately whether those payment requests have been paid. With this combination of features, banks are trying to overtake parties such as Payconiq, Mollie and PayPal. By the end of 2025 all banks had to support SEPA Instant Payments, and this system will work flawlessly for everyone. At that point the added value of a PSP becomes minimal. So in theory parties like Payconiq have already been overtaken by the banks, but the practice is still catching up.

No more commission

In short: thanks to the bank’s payment links you no longer have to pay commission, and you no longer have to pay with your data either. Usecue POS works with this kind of free payment link. You would be mad not to use them for your cash register, right? So: invest in the future and switch to Usecue POS (right now)!