Henry Helgeson, CEO, BlueSnap

Today we're meeting Henry Helgeson, the CEO of BlueSnap. BlueSnap helps businesses accept global payments in a better way: Their Global Payment Orchestration Platform is designed to increase sales and reduce costs for all businesses accepting payments.

Over to you Henry - my questions are in bold:

Who are you and what's your background?

I’m the founder of Cayan and earlier this year, I became the CEO of BlueSnap. I founded Cayan, previously known as ‘Merchant Warehouse’, in my dorm room during my last semester at Marist College. Back then, I was an independent contractor selling expensive terminals and printers to small businesses.

Cayan filled a market gap by providing accessible and affordable credit card processing services and equipment. After 21 years, I sold the company and retired. For more than four years, I played an advisory role in the payment industry. However, I always felt like I could add more value as an operator than as a board member. So, in 2024, I came out of retirement and joined BlueSnap as the CEO.

Outside my professional career, I’m a pilot and a philanthropist. I have acrophobia, but I’ve always been fascinated by planes and used my time in college to become a pilot. I had to take a break from flying during the first 7 years of Cayan, but eventually, I returned to the cockpit.

What is your job title and what are your general responsibilities?

I’m the Chief Executive Officer at BlueSnap, a leading provider of global payment solutions.

My goal is to strengthen our footing in the B2B sector and help the company expand internationally. I also want to improve partnerships and we are making progress in this direction via our recent work with NetSuite and BigCommerce.

Naturally, none of this is possible without a well-structured team so my immediate focus is to refine the organisational chart and the company culture to achieve the ideal team composition.

Can you give us an overview of your business?

BlueSnap helps businesses accept global payments and turn them into a reliable source of revenue and profit. Our Global Payment Orchestration Platform supports payments globally through multiple sales channels. These include online and mobile sales, marketplaces, subscriptions, invoice payments, and manual orders through a virtual terminal. Our payments are tailored to business needs. We also offer white-labelled payments for platforms with automated underwriting and onboarding that supports marketplaces and split payments.

Our modular technology offers one integration and contract. This means that businesses can sell in over 200 regions with access to local card acquiring in 47+ countries, 100+ currencies and global payment types, including popular eWallets, automated accounts receivable, world-class fraud protection and chargeback management, built-in solutions for regulation and tax compliance, and unified global reporting to help businesses grow.

Tell us how you are funded?

Our primary investors are Great Hill Partners and Parthenon Capital Partners.

What’s the origin story? Why did you start the company? To solve what problems?

BlueSnap’s story started in 2002 to simplify payments and deliver ROI. Acquisition by Great Hill Partners in 2011 was a turning point for us and in 2013, we rebranded to our current form.

We realised that many businesses see payments as a checkbox or an unavoidable cost, instead of an investment. This affects the customer journey, resulting in abandoned baskets and reduced revenues. We tackle these issues by improving the payment experience, making it easier for customers to complete their purchases. By minimising abandoned baskets and improving the buying process, our product enables businesses to turn payments into a source of revenue.

Who are your target customers? What’s your revenue model?

We focus on multinationals that are domiciled in a number of countries around the world and have global needs.

A good example will be mid-market companies, which you might think of as ‘Small and Medium Businesses Plus’ (SMB+). These companies have big payment needs but they don’t want to invest in a customised full-stack payment solution. As a result, their payment needs tend to be shoehorned into the solutions used by SMBs. At BlueSnap, we help our customers by providing a combined solution with end-to-end support for the end customers and for themselves.

If you had a magic wand, what one thing would you change in the banking and/or FinTech sector?

Legacy systems in the banking world that are not willing to invest with a long-term view need to change. If they don’t, they are going to face severe challenges in the next 3-5 years. These traditional systems should look at companies like Fiserv, that have invested in the future and done an excellent job of pivoting to up-to-date technology and reducing technical debt.

Modern tech companies also pose threats to these legacy firms because, in the coming few years, the market share will shift in favour of these ‘new-age’ companies.

What is your message for the larger players in the Financial Services marketplace?

Many mid-market players today focus on squeezing the margin. By doing that, they sacrifice innovation and investment in technology, which is not ideal.

Where do you get your Financial Services/FinTech industry news from?

I enjoy listening to a few podcasts and following some thought leaders, but most of my news comes from my network. I like to hear from the people who actually do the work. For example, a coder or an engineer developing the product.

They’re at the heart of the business and truly know what's working and what trends are worthwhile. They can speak from their own experiences - this is the most valuable source of information in my opinion.

Hearing real-world examples from the people who live it every day is a genuinely insightful way of understanding what the current state of the industry is.

Can you list 3 people you rate from the FinTech and/or Financial Services sector that we should be following on LinkedIn, and why?

• Marcel van Oost - Marcel is an independent analyst and posts daily updates on the industry along with regular newsletters summing up key developments in the fintech sector - a great way to keep updated in addition to being in close communications with those that are in the weeds.
• Jas Shah - Jas is a very experienced fintech product professional with a fortnightly newsletter (Fintech R&R) that offers brilliant insight into industry trends and product topics.
• Theodora Lau - Theo regularly talks about AI, FinTech trends, and longevity. She is also one of American Banker’s Top 20 Most Influential Women in Fintech.

What FinTech services (and/or apps) do you personally use?

I use digital wallets. Cashless payments are the future and it’s safe to say that I’ve adapted to it.

Finally, let's talk predictions. What trends do you think are going to define the next few years in the FinTech sector?

Today, we have a robust dispute resolution system. As a result, digital payments have increased. This will lead to a rise in ‘card not present’ (CNP) payments in the next few years. We are already seeing more situations where customers are physically present but they don’t have their card on them.

Hiring patterns in the FinTech industry will also change. Merchants are becoming more savvy and are onboarding people with a background in payments. This is helping them set up integrated payment systems and driving a move towards in-house management of payments.

Finally, it goes without saying that AI is a massive trend in the industry and both good and bad actors have access to it. The use of AI for fraud will only increase and it is going to be painful for the industry to deal with. However, there is no doubt that the presence of the technology in the industry is going to increase.

Henry, thanks for taking the time to participate!

Read more about Henry Helgeson on LinkedIn and find more about his company BlueSnap at https://www.bluesnap.com/.