The history of leaving a tip or making a gratuity payment to hospitality staff who’ve delivered an excellent service goes back centuries. But in recent years this tradition has faced challenges, thanks to societies everywhere adopting cashless payments. With fewer people carrying physical coins and notes, the important act of leaving money in a saucer on a restaurant table was starting to become difficult. That was until modern payments innovators stepped in with digital solutions that are enabling employees to continue earning this essential income. One such business is Italian-headquartered Tackpay. We spoke to its CEO and co-founder Matteo Tranchida and here’s what he had to say…
Tell us a little about Tackpay and the customers you support.
TackPay is the new digital tipping app that allows anyone to send, receive and manage tips instantly and hassle-free. We are working to be the best digital tip jar in the world and this is made possible thanks to the prompt feedback from our users: hotels, restaurants, bars and individual tipped workers - including street performers who receive tips with our QR code. How do you best describe your role and which part do you find most enjoyable? I’m the CEO of the company, and as everyone who has done startups knows, in the early stages there are no limitations to what you can and should do. Right now, the role that most represents what I do is product manager. I love bringing feedback from the clients I talk to into the platform, discussing it with the team and turning relevant comments into a better UX for all. What was the founding vision for Tackpay and what problems do you solve for your customers? The founding vision of TackPay emerged from the experience of some team members who observed the loss of tips in the Horeca industry due to the absence of cashless tipping options or the reluctance of venues to accept tips through the till. The problem was found to be widespread, leading to the creation of TackPay as a solution. TackPay is a platform that offers a digital wallet for individual workers and a smart jar for businesses.
TackPay is the new digital tipping app that allows anyone to send, receive and manage tips instantly and hassle-free. We are working to be the best digital tip jar in the world and this is made possible thanks to the prompt feedback from our users: hotels, restaurants, bars and individual tipped workers - including street performers who receive tips with our QR code. How do you best describe your role and which part do you find most enjoyable? I’m the CEO of the company, and as everyone who has done startups knows, in the early stages there are no limitations to what you can and should do. Right now, the role that most represents what I do is product manager. I love bringing feedback from the clients I talk to into the platform, discussing it with the team and turning relevant comments into a better UX for all. What was the founding vision for Tackpay and what problems do you solve for your customers? The founding vision of TackPay emerged from the experience of some team members who observed the loss of tips in the Horeca industry due to the absence of cashless tipping options or the reluctance of venues to accept tips through the till. The problem was found to be widespread, leading to the creation of TackPay as a solution. TackPay is a platform that offers a digital wallet for individual workers and a smart jar for businesses.
The platform addresses the challenge of cashless tipping by providing a seamless and efficient way for customers to tip directly without the need for cash. Additionally, the platform enables businesses to distribute tips to multiple locations and employees automatically, based on various division rules. Overall, TackPay's innovative approach addresses critical pain points for customers and businesses in the hospitality industry, enhancing the tipping experience and streamlining operations.
Tell us a little more about finance and payments in your region and any current trends you are seeing?
Since coronavirus, merchants and customers have realised that digital, and therefore payments, have taken over. This became really obvious when travel restarted, as very few tourists were using cash post pandemic.
In Italy, point of sale is now seen as an indispensable tool in commerce. Even many businesses who were pro-cash are starting to understand point of sale’s usefulness and are adopting innovative solutions for collecting and managing money through cards and smartphones.
How are the banks in Italy innovating and collaborating? At the moment, I see a strong interest in some of the larger players offering digital banking solutions and thus being able to meet the needs of the younger generation. Additionally, some of the major banks have shares in digital startups that offer additional services such as savings/investment, virtual currency custody, etc. So, as well as offering their APIs for open banking solutions, they are really investing in innovation. And how is the Fintech industry looking? The fintech industry is on the rise; companies operating in the sector have grown considerably in both number and market value in recent years. I'm a fan of solutions that solve one problem concretely, so I have a lot of faith in tools that solve everyday problems. What's next for Tackpay - are the customers you work with asking for more products and services from you, and might you expand into new markets? Our next steps are obviously the implementation of features that we are asked for by our larger customers and which increasingly improve the management of multiple locations from a single interface. Regarding extra services, we are in the business of tipping and we do it as best as we can. It would be easy for us to switch to other types of solutions, but we want to have a strong position in the market and right now it would just be a distraction from the goal of becoming the best digital tip jar in the world.
How are the banks in Italy innovating and collaborating? At the moment, I see a strong interest in some of the larger players offering digital banking solutions and thus being able to meet the needs of the younger generation. Additionally, some of the major banks have shares in digital startups that offer additional services such as savings/investment, virtual currency custody, etc. So, as well as offering their APIs for open banking solutions, they are really investing in innovation. And how is the Fintech industry looking? The fintech industry is on the rise; companies operating in the sector have grown considerably in both number and market value in recent years. I'm a fan of solutions that solve one problem concretely, so I have a lot of faith in tools that solve everyday problems. What's next for Tackpay - are the customers you work with asking for more products and services from you, and might you expand into new markets? Our next steps are obviously the implementation of features that we are asked for by our larger customers and which increasingly improve the management of multiple locations from a single interface. Regarding extra services, we are in the business of tipping and we do it as best as we can. It would be easy for us to switch to other types of solutions, but we want to have a strong position in the market and right now it would just be a distraction from the goal of becoming the best digital tip jar in the world.
Our target market is Europe and we are pursuing a capital increase in order to expand to key countries that we have identified.
