Payoneer Forges Ties to Online Games Marketplace SEAGM And BNPL Bazaar Optty

Since going public a year ago, Payoneer Global Inc. has been capitalizing on its capabilities in key cross-border payments capabilities, including direct transfers and mass payouts. Its reach now includes big international online marketplaces with its announcement early on Wednesday that it will process payments for merchants selling on SEAGM, a Malaysia-based platform hosting merchants from around the world.

Some 11 million consumers shop on SEAGM, according to the companies. The marketplace specializes in movies, games, and music. With the link to Payoneer, “sellers from important markets can now be paid directly into their local bank accounts for the digital goods they offer on SEAGM,” says Nagesh Devata, senior vice president for Asia-Pacific at New York City-based Payoneer, in a statement.

With the worldwide gaming industry flourishing, key to the deal is the capability to handle a spectrum of payment methods across widely separated geographies, according to SEAGM co-founder and chief executive Tommy Chieng. “Through Payoneer, not only will our platform be available to [game companies], but they will also benefit from and experience efficient and secure payment services without having to worry about the distance,” he says in a statement.

The deal with SEAGM comes as Payoneer has agreed to offer buy now, pay later options to its merchants via an agreement with Optty Pte Ltd., a BNPL platform based in Singapore. The deal, also announced Wednesday, will allow sellers on Payoneer’s platform to choose from among 41 BNPL providers hosted by Optty in 59 countries and in 36 currencies. These include Afterpay, Affirm, Grab, Klarna, and Zip. In working with Optty, Payoneer joins a number of major online platforms and payments providers, including Salesforce, Adobe Commerce, and BigCommerce.

“Optty is a promising new technology that provides us a way to quickly give our clients the ability to expand payment acceptance by adding new BNPL payment providers,” Keren Levy, Payoneer’s president and general manager of merchant services, says in a statement.

Barely a year old, Optty says it is aiming to take advantage of what it sees as growing demand among merchants around the world for multiple BNPL options.

Founded in 2005, Payoneer became a public company last spring in a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC). In May, the company said it has appointed former Alibaba.com executive John Caplan to be co-chief executive with long-time CEO Scott Galit through the end of next year. At that time, Caplan will assume the role of CEO exclusively and Galit will remain in a “strategic role,” according to Payoneer’s announcement. A former Mastercard and First Data executive, Galit has been CEO since 2010.