Patent portfolio expands to 4, with 26 more in the pipeline
Communication security is a key consideration for the safe transfer of payment information from a consumer-facing product – such as a terminal, website, or mobile app to a payment processing server for authorization. Common security lapses can lead to a) stealing of customer identity, b) change in merchant identity and c) change in the transaction amount. Any such lapse would lead to loss of money for the customer and merchant, besides inconvenience to all parties.
Security lapses can erode consumer and merchant confidence and are the single biggest factor that can affect the growth of digital payments. Innoviti’s patent furthers the advancement of secure communications in payment systems.
The patent aims to address certain security challenges that arise in push payment systems, where the merchant (payee) identity capture is disconnected from the payment processing step. Most popular payment methods are pull-based, e.g., card payments at a store or online, mobile payments online etc. The merchant sends a debit request to the customer’s bank in a single connection-oriented protocol.
The challenges if any arise invalidating the bonafide of the customer, which is authenticated through a second factor. However, in push payments, the challenges are related to capturing the merchant’s identity. A possible hack of the merchant’s identity and its replacement with a false one can lead to the consumer getting debited but a fraudulent account getting credited.
A possible use case is in unassisted QR payments, e.g., vending machines, self-check-out, etc., where an unauthorized, random substitution of the QR can cause this issue. Innoviti’s patent aims to address these situations through a technology innovation at the network layer that eliminates this possibility.
Commenting on the development, Mr Amit Ahuja, SVP Technology, Innoviti, said, “Innoviti desires to become the purchase partner to every Indian by helping them make better purchase decisions. We do this by developing sophisticated technology and delivering it through simple, exceptionally crafted purchase experiences. This is hard, very hard to put together. Our patents are a demonstration of the sophisticated technology required to deliver such exceptional experiences. These patents are also a great recognition of the exceptional talent that exists in Innoviti. Further, they not only help us protect our customers against claims by other parties but are also a mechanism for us to deter replication of our technology by competition. We are proud to receive a US grant for this patent. Through these patents, in our own small way, we hope to contribute to the “Make in India, For the World” mission. We have 26 more patents in the pipeline and over the next couple of years plan to increase this to a portfolio of 100+ patents.”
Innoviti has developed a collaborative commerce platform that enables businesses to partner on payment transactions and turn them into powerful purchase tools that help consumers buy better products and more products. Merchants, banks, and brands come together on Innoviti’s platform to create such purchase tools.
The platform is delivered as software applications that run on payment terminals and mobile and web applications, helping the merchants drive more customers, more sales, and more profits than possible otherwise. This technology will further enhance the reliability of Innoviti’s products, providing a virtually zero error system that will help boost the consumer-merchant purchase experience.
Based on deep consumer insights, Innoviti’s products are crafted using superior technology that has translated into higher GTV per point of purchase than anyone else in the market, and a continuously increasing take rate per $ of GTV. Processing over Rs. 75,000 Cr. of annualized purchase volume, Innoviti’s flagship uniPAYNext product commands a dominant market share of 76% in the large enterprise category, providing category-specific purchase tools to grocery, fashion, healthcare, and electronics merchants.
Innoviti had raised a Series D round of Rs. 80 Cr. in December 2020, towards fueling the expansion of its mid-market product GENIE. Within the past few months, GENIE has rapidly grown to drive Rs. 1,000 Cr. of annualized GTV that is targeted to grow to Rs. 7000 Cr. over the next twelve months. Innoviti’s highly differentiated product strategy backed by modern enterprise-grade technology has not only driven a rapid growth trajectory, but also a highly profitable one with gross margins of more than 70%. The company’s enterprise business has been EBITDA positive since October 2020.
