PayPro gets a licence from Chinese tech giant Tencent

PayPro

Earlier this week, payment service provider PayPro announced it has received a licence from the Chinese online giant Tencent and now offers full payment services for WeChat Pay, for both web shops and regular retail. In stores, customers can use a special PIN device for WeChat Pay.

The Groningen based company is the first Dutch payment provider to use WeChat Pay. “Needless to say, we’re very proud!”, PayPro’s founder Henk Jan Wils says. “The Chinese app now has over 1 billion users and the number of users in the Netherlands and the rest of Europe is steadily growing. This of course provides online entrepreneurs and retailers with potentially great new business opportunities. The fact that we offer a complete service and have an official license from De Nederlandsche Bank, the central bank of the Netherlands, has played a big role in getting the licence from Tencent.”

 

The super app for everything

So what exactly is WeChat? Basically, it’s Facebook, Tikkie, Instagram, Marktplaats, PayPal and WhatsApp, all in one app. It was first released in 2011, and by 2018 it was one of the world's largest standalone mobile apps by monthly active users, with over 1 billion monthly active users and 902 million daily active users. It has been called China's app for everything and a super app because of its wide range of functions and platforms.

So far more than a social media channel, it gives companies the possibility to set up mini webshops for their services. “People can use the app to pay for dinner, their shopping or order a taxi, for example”, Henk Jan explains. “They can even use it for online banking. And the reason WeChat is so popular, is because it’s so easy for online and offline payments. We’re the only payment service company in the Netherlands facilitating both online and offline transactions for WeChat Pay.” 

PayPro has already provided the first Dutch companies with WeChat Pay Native and WeChat Quick Pay options. “You won’t need a debit or credit card anymore. Scanning (Native) or being scanned (Quick Pay) is the way to go. And of course those transactions happen within a very safe environment”, Henk Jan adds.”

PayPro handles payment traffic for companies and entrepreneurs and supports all the well known services like iDeal, PayPal, SEPA and all the major credit card companies. Since 2012, PayPro has had a licence from the Dutch Central bank, meaning it’s officially recognized as a payment service provider.