BNP Paribas and Startup Studio 321founded launch Panto, a fintech dedicated to marketplace payments

Co-founded by the entrepreneurial team at 321founded and BNP Paribas, Panto offers marketplaces a dedicated payment management solution that guarantees smooth and secure transactions. The fintech is aiming for rapid penetration of the European payments market, and intends to position as a made-in-Europe alternative. Guillaume Massis (ex Intuit, co-founder of Airtag) is CEO of the startup.

“With Panto, we aim to contribute to the creation of a leading player for marketplaces and, moreover, in the platformization of commerce. For its launch, Panto can count on the strength of BNP Paribas, present across the entire payment value chain and 1ère European corporate bank. I am convinced that the team, led by Guillaume Massis, will succeed in positioning Panto as one of the leading payment players for marketplaces, thanks to its best-of-breed offering,” says Neil Pein, Head of Payments Transformation and New Digital Businesses, BNP Paribas Group.

Full-service payment platform

Panto provides state-of-the-art payment functionalities for marketplaces, through an API that can be quickly implemented.

Cash in features

• Payment acceptance and access to multiple payment methods, adapted to each market.

Cash out features

• Automatic redistribution of payments between third-party sellers and the marketplace, with instant or standard transfers.

Management features

• Automated onboarding of third-party vendors from an in-house KYC (Know Your Customer) process and global fraud management, powered by AI.
• A unified view of all payments, for single-point management of chargebacks, reconciliation, financial reporting and performance indicators.

“From the outset, we’ve set ourselves the highest industry standards in terms of integration, functionality and technology, at a competitive price,” explains Guillaume Massis, CEO of Panto.

Initially, Panto is targeting European BtoC e-commerce players, in particular the leading marketplaces that are BNP Paribas customers. At a later stage, the fintech could extend to the European BtoB and CtoC markets, with international sellers.

“Our aim is to become one of Europe’s leading marketplace payment solutions. Although there is a lot of competition in this market, it remains vast and continues to grow,” continues Guillaume Massis. “We developed a first complete beta version in 6 months. With the support of BNP Paribas at our side since Panto’s creation, we look forward to a similar dynamic commercial launch phase.”

Panto is scheduled for launch in the first half of 2024. Until payment institution approval is obtained, the fintech will operate as an agent of BNP Paribas.

With over 20 years’ experience in the banking and financial sector, Guillame Massis takes over the management of Panto.

He began his career at Robert Walters and then GE Capital, before co-founding the fintech Airtag in 2007, specialized in the digitization and securitization of mobile payment methods. The company enjoyed sustained growth, and was acquired by Safran (a subsidiary that has now become Idemia).

Guillaume continued his entrepreneurial adventure, co-founding the banking-as-a-service solution Ditto Services, before taking over as Sales Director in France for the international publisher Intuit (QuickBooks).