Ingenico history

Terminal prototypes were produced in rapid succession, until Ingenico came up with the first device offering the potential for industrialization, i.e. the CART’EL in 1982.

The opportunity would present itself in 1983, through a partnership with the Burroughs company, which at the time was seeking electronic money hardware to service Australian banks.

A bank card model would also be produced; in 1984, a new consortium was formed combining member banks of both French branches of the Visa and MasterCard networks.

Ingenico quickly rose to the top of the French market, and by 1985 the company went public, listing its stock on the Parisian bourse's Secondary Market.

In 1987 the company’s first subsidiary in Australia was also founded.

Early on, Ingenico eyed a place in the international market, launching a subsidiary in Australia in 1988 in order to position itself for entry into the Asian Pacific markets.

Ingenico launched its Euromos "multiple application" terminal in 1990, hoping to establish an industry standard.

In 1992, international sales accounted for just 16 percent of the company's total revenues of nearly FFr185 million.

By 1994, international sales accounted for more than half of Ingenico's revenues.

The year 1995 proved to be a turning point for Ingenico.

Worldline’s story starts in 1996, the rival company Axime offered to buy Sligos, resulting in the successful merger of the two companies under the new name Atos.

By the end of 1997, Ingenico's sales had grown to more than FFr 450 million.

In 1998, Ingenico made two new acquisition that enabled the company to climb to the number two position worldwide, behind United States-based leader Hypercom.

In December 1999, that share was sold to Marc Lassus, founder and head of Gemplus, which by then had grown into the world's leading smart card maker.

One month later, Ingenico stepped up to the acquisition plate, buying French-based IT services and consultancy firm EAC. In April 2000, Ingenico acquired Lexem, a leading French secured internet transaction specialist.

"Le jackpot chinois profite encore à Ingenico," La Tribune, August 13, 2001.

2002: Company is awarded largest-ever contract from First Data Corporation.

At that time, Poutrel, who was said to be preparing to retire soon after, announced the company's plan to boost its sales to EUR 600 million by 2003.

In 2004, the company created the new subsidiary Atos Worldline to focus solely on payments and transactional services.

One major early milestone for the company was when Ingenico became the first payment services company to obtain online/offline PCI-SSC PIN Entry Device (PED) Certification in 2005.

In 2008, after the merging with The Ingenium Group, Ingenico closed its R&D centre in Barcelona.

Ingenico acquired German payment processor Easycash in 2009 for €290 million EUR.

In 2011, Ingenico integrated Pennies, the electronic charity box, into one of their mobile Chip and PIN payment terminals, allowing retailers to use the Pennies technology so their customers can add a micro-donation (1p-99p) to their bill when paying by card.

On the whole however, mCommerce has taken a significant upwards turn over the last few years, since the launch of Apple Pay in 2014, and as consumer access to smartphones and ever-faster internet has transformed purchasing habits.

In November 2015, Worldline merged its electronic financial transaction processing activities with the Dutch payment processing company Equens to create equensWorldline.

The launch in 2016 confirmed Worldline as the leader in the payment services industry across Europe.

In December 2017, Ingenico acquired Airlink to expand its Asian reach.