LOUGHBOROUGH, United Kingdom and NEWTON, Mass. — The Access Group, a leading provider of business management software to mid-market organizations in Europe, the United States and Asia Pacific, announced it has entered an agreement to acquire US-based Paytronix, a provider in guest engagement for restaurants and convenience stores.
This investment represents one of Access Group’s most significant acquisitions in its 30-plus-year history and is a major step forward for the Group as it continues to focus on its product offering in the United States. Access Group hopes to add further support to the Paytronix team, helping to accelerate its growth and expand the footprint, bringing high-quality products and a digital guest engagement platform to more clients worldwide, helping them to excel in meeting ever-evolving customer demands.
Currently, the full Paytronix guest engagement platform includes numerous capabilities for online ordering, loyalty, omnichannel messaging, branded mobile apps, gift cards, third-party marketplace management, and payments. Leveraging data from transactions and personalized customer accounts, Paytronix creates targeted marketing campaigns that motivate increased interaction and spending throughout the customer journey. Paytronix will retain its name and plans to integrate its platform with a selection of Access products; the enhanced comprehensive suite of products and services will further improve the guest experience.
Founded in 2001 by executive chairman Andrew Robbins, Paytronix is based in Newton, MA. Its platform is deployed in over 50,000 sites across 1,800 brands and has processed more than 40bn consumer transactions. It boasts over 500 partnerships including many of the biggest names in the restaurant and convenience space, such as Google and Apple Pay, Toast, Square, DoorDash, UberEats, and many more. Their customers range from single operators to successful regional chains and large multi-unit enterprises like Panera, Qdoba, Nando’s and Five Guys.
Paytronix was purchased by Boston-based Great Hill Partners in 2017, and they have been a valued accelerator of the company’s rapid growth. “We’ve had the privilege of working alongside Great Hill Partners to deliver our solutions and services to the innovative restaurant and convenience store brands that we proudly call clients,” said Paytronix CEO, Jeff Hindman. “The acquisition by The Access Group is the beginning of another stage in our growth, and I’m excited to say that from here we’re only going to build upon the service and capabilities that our clients know us for.
“Since our founding, we’ve worked to help clients build one-to-one interactions, enhance customer engagement and streamline operations for their businesses. Billions of transactions and millions of data-driven guest profiles later we realize our vision every time an AI-enhanced campaign is sent, which is nearly once every minute,” continued Hindman. “Joining a global force such as Access will further broaden the software solutions available to our current and future client base, enhancing the value we can offer and helping to solve everyday business challenges.”
“We are incredibly proud of the progress and achievements made by Paytronix during our partnership. Over the past seven years, Paytronix has demonstrated remarkable growth and innovation, understanding customer demand to become the leading choice when it comes to guest engagements,” said Nick Cayer, Managing Director at Great Hill Partners. “We are confident that Paytronix will be well positioned under the Access umbrella, and we wish Jeff and the entire team success moving forward.”
The Access Group has extensive experience in delivering world-class technology solutions to the hospitality sector across the UK, Europe and APAC with a suite of products covering front-of-house and operations, including the ResDiary online reservations management system, Wireless Social guest wi-fi and QikServe digital order and pay capabilities. The company’s leading software solutions also cover HR, payroll, learning, staff scheduling, procurement, EPoS, property management and accounting.
Access Hospitality’s managing director, Champa Magesh, said, “By partnering with Paytronix, together we can achieve a broader footprint in the Americas and further strengthen our wider strategy to offer a comprehensive suite of unified technologies, that enhance the customer experience across hospitality and convenience store businesses.”
Access’s president of Americas, Jonah Paransky, said: “This is the next step in our exciting US story – doubling our team in North America to over 450 and giving us a broader reach into hospitality and retail businesses to help further our aim of offering the most comprehensive and adaptable platform to enhance guest experiences and profitability.
“Paytronix is a best-in-class software provider, helping restaurants and convenience stores engage their customers consistently and has a proven track record of solving customer problems, helping businesses retain and grow their customer base and ultimately boosting profits. We very much look forward to working with current and future customers as we seek to revolutionize the hospitality sector, one smart solution at a time.”
Notes on the deal advisors: Financial Technology Partners (FT Partners) is acting as the exclusive financial advisor for Paytronix. Kirkland & Ellis LLP is serving as legal counsel to Great Hill Partners. Razorhorse is serving as the financial advisor to Access. Latham & Watkins is acting as Access’ legal advisor.
About The Access Group
The Access Group is one of the largest UK-headquartered business management software providers. It provides solutions that empower more than 128,000 small and mid-sized organisations in commercial and non-profit sectors across Europe, USA and APAC, giving every employee the freedom to do more of what’s important. Its innovative cloud solutions and integrated AI software experience across multiple Access products transform how business technology is used. Access employs over 7,000 people, continuously driving product innovation and customer service excellence. For more information, visit www.theaccessgroup.com
www.theaccessgroup.com/en-us/ or follow us @TheAccessGroup
About Paytronix
Paytronix, an Access Group company, is a cloud-based digital guest engagement platform for the hospitality industry. Our innovative, unified platform provides loyalty programs, online ordering, gift cards, branded mobile applications, and strategic insights to more than 1,800 leading restaurant and convenience store brands. Our valued clients leverage the power of Paytronix across 50,000 sites globally to create seamless, personalized, and brand-authentic experiences that foster lasting relationships with their customers. For more than 20 years, Paytronix has been a trusted partner helping brands maximize the lifetime value of their guests and grow more profitable businesses. For more information, visit www.paytronix.com
About Great Hill Partners
Founded in 1998, Great Hill Partners is a private equity firm targeting investments of $100 million to $500 million in high-growth companies across the software, digital commerce, financial technology, healthcare, and digital infrastructure sectors. With offices in Boston and London, Great Hill has raised over $12 billion of commitments and invested in over 100 companies, establishing an extensive track record of building long-term partnerships with entrepreneurs and providing flexible resources to help middle-market companies scale. Great Hill has been recognized for its industry leadership, being ranked in the top of five of HEC Paris-Dow Jones’ Mid-Market Buyout and Performance Ranking lists from 2021-2023. For more information, including a list of all Great Hill investments, visit www.greathillpartners.com.
