Shift4, Lighthouse consolidate technologies, brands

Allentown, Pa.-based Lighthouse Network, a payment technology provider previously known as Harbortouch, disclosed Jan. 15, 2018, that it acquired Shift4 Corp., a payment gateway based in Las Vegas. Company representatives said the newly created entity, Shift4 Payments, will leverage Shift4's patented payment technologies and Lighthouse Network's family of integrated POS solutions.

Lighthouse Network CEO Jared Isaacman will take the helm as Shift4 CEO when the transaction closes. He said Shift4 has taken leadership in secure payment processing, and rebranding as Shift4 Payments reflects a commitment to power the company's extended family of software brands with premium processing and a best-in-class payments platform.

"This story is not just about our Harbortouch, Future POS, Restaurant Manager and POSitouch brands," he added. "We also aim to empower the over 300 existing Shift4 software integrations with game-changing benefits."

J.D. Oder II, Shift4 President and Chief Technology Officer said the acquisition combines the strengths of two significant, well-established organizations with complementary capabilities. "Shift4's merchants and ISV partners for years have asked for more than just an outstanding gateway solution, but the full spectrum of payment processing services," he noted. "We can now meet that need and so much more."

Expanded footprint, product family

Aligned interests and complementary technologies were a major consideration in the Shift4 and Lighthouse Network merger, Isaacman and Oder noted. Shift4 Payments will expand its product family by combining Shift4's integrated software with Lighthouse Network's Harbortouch, Restaurant Manager, POSitouch and Future POS brands.

The executives expect the aggregated technology suite to expand their reach into numerous vertical industries, providing a range of targeted solutions for food and beverage, hospitality, lodging, gaming, retail and ecommerce markets.

Shift4 Payments will also expand its global operations with eight offices in the United States and Europe, 7,000 sales partners and three data centers. With estimated annual processing volumes of $100 billion, the new company expects to securely process over 1 billion transactions for approximately 200,000 businesses. Citizens Bank is the financial adviser for the transaction, company representatives stated.

Heritage of innovation

Harbortouch, a Lighthouse Network Company originally known as United Bank Card Inc., is a leading provider of integrated POS systems and payment processing services. Harbortouch rebranded in 2017 as Lighthouse Network to emphasize its numerous POS brands and technology solutions.

Shift4 Corp., founded in 1994, is known for inventing payment data tokenization and holds 11 patents for proprietary payment technologies. The company's Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard-validated point-to-point encryption, EMV and secure processing solutions are widely used by leading processors, independent software vendors, and retail and hospitality brands; its redundant, geographically diverse data centers and payment gateway support more than 300 unique software integrations, company representatives noted.

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