The mobile payments market is expanding at an unprecedented rate. According to a report by CMO, 58 percent of all consumers surveyed indicated that they favor the convenience of mobile commerce over that of more traditional forms of commerce, and, as a result of this popularity, the mobile-based payment industry is expected to reach $142 billion in volume by 2019. IFAN Financial, Inc. (OTC: IFAN) is in a strong position to capitalize on this growth through the continued development of its growing portfolio of payment solutions, leveraging the significant market flexibility provided by the company’s recently announced funding agreement with Sea Otter Global Ventures, LLC.

Following the announcement of the funding agreement, Sea Otter executives praised IFAN’s innovative approach to the world of mobile payments. As the company continues to refine its product portfolio, this dedication to improvement and innovation should place IFAN in a formidable position to benefit from its established presence in the ecommerce industry.

“We are very pleased to have secured this financing facility with Sea Otter,” stated J. Christopher Mizer, President and Chief Executive Officer of IFAN. “The funding will allow us to execute our business plan and begin commercialization of the proprietary IFAN payment gateway.”

In May, IFAN made a strong push towards the commercialization of its payments gateway through an agreement with digital branding agency Blue Like Neon. Through this partnership, IFAN will have an extremely visible platform to effectively demonstrate the versatility of its mobile gateway, providing a fully customizable social commerce platform that can be adjusted to meet each client’s unique needs.

“The flexibility and security features of IFAN’s solutions are very appealing to us and our clients,” stated Landis White, a founding partner of Blue Like Neon. “The end result increases convenience and security while lowering costs… providing a significant competitive advantage.”

In recent months, IFAN has taken major steps towards the expansion and commercialization of its unique portfolio of products and services. In March, the company announced two major milestones in the development of its iPIN Technologies payment platform, clearing the path for a commercial launch later this year. This announcement, in addition to the company’s recent agreement with Blue Like Neon, gives IFAN additional potential to realize significant investor returns. Look for IFAN to leverage the availability of capital to make strides in building brand awareness for the company moving forward, improving the company’s prospects for industry growth in the years to come.

For more information, visit http://ifanfinancial.com

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Fresh on the heels of Monday’s announcement that it had submitted its Oveedia architecture to the Sabre Travel Network, Pure Hospitality Solutions, Inc. (OTC: PNOW) provided potential investors with yet another reason to consider the company on Tuesday through the announcement of an accelerated debt reduction program.

“I believe, paying down, or eliminating debt, is an investment in yourself,” stated Melvin Pereira, President and Chief Executive Officer of Pure. “It is a true indication of who you are and what you intend for your future. Of course, building a profitable, successful business, will require proper financing. But it is absolutely asinine for this company to carry this outrageous legacy debt – or any other liability, that is going to hinder and not spur our growth.”

Over the past six months, Pure has eliminated roughly one third of its outstanding debt, including accrued interest and other carry costs. This dedication to improving its financial outlook has placed Pure into a strong strategic position to fast track its Oveedia OTA platform while effectively encouraging private tech investors to invest in the company and clearing the way for more viable financing options in the future.

“[W]e are cleaning house! In doing so, we will leverage our strengths and deliver the greatest possible impact on shareholder value and confidence; something never before seen from this Company,” concluded Pereira.

Under its newly accelerated debt reduction program, Pure is on course to eliminate nearly 90 percent of its total debt by the end of 2015, setting the stage for potentially substantial returns as the company nears the release of its Oveedia platform. With necessary adjustment to the company’s business plan already underway, Pure is positioning itself to emerge as a formative competitor in the $30 billion Latin American online travel market in the coming months.

As Pure continues to remove legacy debts from its books, the company is quickly approaching the much anticipated launch of Oveedia. Leveraging the ample resources presented by becoming a member of Sabre’s $7 billion travel network family, Pure is on track to complete an initial version of its OTA platform as early as the end of this week. This advanced development will allow the company to begin the site’s three phase rollout sooner than originally scheduled.

For more information on Pure Hospitality Solutions, visit www.purenow.solutions

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Since 2002, American Rare Earths and Materials Corp. (OTC: AREM) has grown into a leader in the commercialization of rare earth metals – including Scandium, Neodymium, Europium and Lithium – by quickly delivering revolutionary new products to consumer and industrial markets. This dedication to innovation has helped the company gain significant exposure in potentially expansive industrial categories such as transportation, shipbuilding, power transmission, automotive and aerospace.

According to a report by the U.S. Geological Survey, China is the dominant producer of the world’s output of rare earth minerals, but countries have increasingly searched for other sources of the materials in protest of China’s quota systems, which have historically limited the export of these strategically important minerals. In January, The Wall Street Journal reported that China had dropped these exportation limits as a result of pressure from the World Trade Organization, but the system’s effect on the global reliance on Chinese suppliers will continue to resonate moving forward. Since 2012, China’s global share of rare earth output fell from 93 percent to approximately 86 percent, highlighting the immense market potential for American Rare in the years to come.

American Rare has undergone a swift and aggressive transition since 2010, better positioning the company to take advantage of the evolving rare earth metals market. In particular, the company has established a unique vertical in the sports equipment and apparel market through the continued extraction of pure Scandium. According to the company’s website, American Rare’s source for Scandium, as well as the other rare earth metals, could be among the largest in the world today with a current Scandium capacity totaling 50,000kg of oxide each year. If mined to capability, this would represent 95 percent of the annual global capacity for the rare earth mineral.

As global consumption of rare earth metals continues to rise, American Rare is in a strong strategic position to expand its presence within the industry. The company’s unique standing within the global market could provide the opportunity for significant investor returns in the future.

For more information, visit www.americanrare.com

After trimming the fat in 2013 with the divestment of their Gulf Coast EPCM (engineering, procurement, and construction management) business in August, energy sector-focused automation, engineering and integration specialists ENGlobal Corp. (NASDAQ: ENG) have subsequently managed to follow up on their banner 2014 financial performance. Shoring up share structure with a $2 million common stock repurchase program executed in April of this year and clocking in a surprisingly healthy Q1 2015, with $23.1 million in revenues yielding net income of $0.6 million ($0.02 per diluted share), backed up by a strong cash balance, and working capital in the neighborhood of $24.4 million.

All this despite the fact that the energy sector has been hammered by a slide in oil prices from over $110 per barrel this time last year, to a low point of around $46 a barrel in late December of 2014. Oil has rebounded nicely to around $58 a barrel on NYMEX for WTI July crude as of June 9th and even OilPrice.com is now reporting a trend that should be no surprise to investors who have been following the market closely, namely, a concomitance of factors which have primed the energy market for a sustained rebound. We have gasoline consumption at the highest levels since 2007 before the financial crisis, the top selling vehicle so far this year is Honda’s CR-V, a 2.4-liter four-cylinder SUV with 185 hp and181 pound-feet of torque, and long-term Globex oil futures currently outline a trend for rising energy prices, with even the short term showing a price over $61 a barrel as early as November.

Even if OPEC jacks up output, with 400k bbls/day potentially coming on-stream and Iraq tacks on another 100k bbls/day, the multiple consecutive weeks of oil drawdowns shown in EIA data, combined with falling domestic rig counts and sustained demand, could mean that the shale oil output boom that has given us back $3 regular gas, and the broader, supposedly cozy global oil supply portrait painted by the IEA, could be coming to an end. Production levels like the ones we have seen and are still mostly continuing to see require new drilling to be sustainable long-term, but with domestic rig counts disappearing as a result of the previous drop in the crude oil price, the supply picture could change rapidly in the future.

Just look at the remarkable drop in U.S. rig counts, from highs of over 2.2k in September and October of 2014, to just 868 oil and gas rigs currently drilling in the U.S. as of the week of June 5th, according to Baker Hughes (NYSE: BHI) and Rig Data. This is a drop of 114 percent YOY, with over 992 rigs taken out of the ball game, and the rebounding WTI futures have been telegraphing the curbed forward supply picture quite nicely it seems. Indeed, even output is now starting to show clear signs of falloff, with crude output from the Bakken and Eagle Ford set to drop 1.3 percent this month alone according to EIA estimates, before losing another 1.6 percent next month to around 5.5 million BOPD, lows not seen since early January’s price bottom.

All of this means one thing to a firm like ENGlobal, which has managed to weather the storm with surprising aplomb: a sudden rushed return to infrastructure deployment, after the realization that we have scaled back too far occurs, will be big business. For a company like ENGlobal that covers upstream, midstream and downstream with their deep bench of talent and extensive knowledge of the production end of the business, as well as separation and conveyance, the industry’s dawning realization that we are logistically handing OPEC the football, represents a real boon on the horizon. Mind you, what matters most in the EPCM game is trust, trust that a company can handle the complex technical requirements and really deliver a comprehensive engineering, procurement and construction solution on time and under budget. Trust cannot be garnered overnight. It takes a long time to establish yourself within this market, and this is one area where ENG really shines.

ENGlobal is currently one of the top global suppliers of turnkey enclosure and site building solutions for the energy sector today. Delivering on years of assembly, automation, fabrication, programming, and power/control integration experience, ENG is almost always rolling out custom packages from their state-of-the-art 80k square foot manufacturing facility in Houston, Texas. From robust drilling rig cabinet and refinery enclosures, through pipelines and pump stations, to the full design and engineering of treatment facilities like catalytic crackers and sulfur recovery units, ENGlobal is an experienced one-stop-shop EPCM firm, and one which is well trusted by some of the energy sector’s top players. Players like Xcel Energy (NYSE: XEL), with whom ENG even extended their long running relationship back during March of this year, executing a 5-year PSA (professional services agreement) to provide EPCM support for a wide variety of natural gas pipelining work across the many regions of the U.S. in which Xcel is a major operator.

Xcel, a company which has over 19k miles of power transmission lines, serving in excess of 22k MW across 10 states, currently also serves as a primary natural gas supplier for nearly 2 million customers across 8 states, with over 2.2k miles of transmission pipelines, and another 33.8k miles of pipes dedicated to distribution. Through 2018, this one client alone has projected some $1 billion in spending on natural gas pipeline readiness and replacement work, covering over 1k miles of pipe, making it an extremely lucrative relationship for ENGlobal.

In an energy market like the one that is now taking shape, industry operators will continue to beat a path to the door of trustworthy companies like ENGlobal. Companies who have the established track record for performance needed to ensure supreme confidence that a given solution will be implemented professionally, as well as within the necessary time and budgetary constraints, and this company also has the safety record to back up that reputation. The company has locked in numerous HSE (health, safety and the environment) awards and nominations year after year from such sources as the Golden Triangle Business Roundtable and Houston Business Roundtable, clearly evincing to all within the industry that ENG has provided the leadership and safety performance which is needed to effectively handle even the most difficult of jobs. Such high praise from major petrochemical and chemical companies, as well as local industrial organizations, is further reflected in the company’s 0.21 TRIR (total recordable incident rate) and extremely low UI modifier of just 0.53, which empirically validates their consistently high loss prevention record.

Given that the energy industry is really all about the people who make it happen on a day to day basis, this last item about operational safety should be of particular note to investors, as nothing succeeds like success.

Pop the hood and take a closer look at www.englobal.com

Since 2010, Car Monkeys has operated as an online retailer of used auto parts in the United States. The New Jersey-based company runs an online store under its CarMonkeys.com brand and another under its Low Mileage Parts brand name. Through both stores, it offers a large assortment of auto parts (engine assemblies, transmissions, rear ends, transfer cases and more) while promising to help potential customers navigate its wide-ranging inventory with unparalleled customer service.

In just under five years, Car Monkeys has become known as an esteemed player in the multi-billion dollar automotive recycling industry and, having established a solid base, it shows great promise for accelerated growth.

Within the U.S., CarMonkeys is considered one of the largest and fastest growing online distributors of parts for cars, vans and sports utility vehicles. The company provides an all-inclusive selection of high-quality used parts (more than a few hundred thousand) for a wide range of vehicle makes and models, and offers these parts at the best prices and with the best warranties in the business. Car Monkey’s multitude of parts are usually ready to ship directly from one of the company’s numerous distributors and auto dismantling centers.

The Car Monkeys team strives to promote transparency via clear and frequent communication between its management and shareholders while also enhancing the company’s visibility within the investment community. Car Monkeys has a reputable and growing presence in the online used car space, and it intends to use its existing presence as a launching off point for sustained growth and to gain deeper saturation in the investment community. Step by step, the company is supplementing its prevailing initiatives to give it the boost it needs to better communicate with current and prospective shareholders.

For more information, visit www.carmonkeys.com

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The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) of 2009 establishes programs under Medicare and Medicaid to provide incentive payments for the use of certified electronic health records technology. Though these Meaningful Use Rules (MUR) were designed to improve healthcare outcomes by utilizing Electronic Health Records (ERH) and documentation, there’s an ugly side of the program that has left many healthcare providers scrambling to adhere to the documenting standards of MUR. The good news is, small-cap innovator MIT Holding, Inc. (OTC: MITD) has the solution providers need to comply.

As of January 2014, 20 different rules for doctors and 19 different rules for hospitals became mandatory under stage two of MUR. Medicare and Medicaid providers are now required to document a patient’s recovery after they are released from care. Gathering this information can be tricky. Some documentation, such as age, weight and gender, is easy to obtain. In-depth follow-up such as checking that the patient is properly taking their medication and following doctor’s orders for and rehabilitation, however, can be time intensive, hard to fill, and is at mercy of the patient’s truthfulness.

If the patient does not recover or the healthcare provider fails to properly document the recovery, the provider will be penalized in that Medicaid/Medicare will pay all of those same procedures billed for the next year at a lower payout. For example, if a hospital bills Medicare/Medicaid $10,000 for a procedure and the hospital does not provide the proper after-care documentation, the hospital is subject to penalty by Medicare/Medicaid. So if the penalty is 10%, the hospital would only receive $9,000 for that procedure over the course of the next 12 months.

This structure can have a dramatic impact on doctors and hospitals that lack the means, resources or the know-how to meet standard reporting. While healthcare providers can easily purchase the software and information technology (IT) needed to report the documentation, they still haven’t found a fully efficient way to gather the information. In fact, Frost & Sullivan reports that more than 50% of healthcare providers lack a plan of action to implement the health IT needed to improve care efficiency.

Managed Healthcare Executive recently published an article discussing the strategies and struggles of some of today’s leading care companies as they work to meet the new requirements. According to the article, Cigna Corp. (NYSE: CI), Aetna, Inc. (NYSE: AET), and Humana, Inc. (NYSE: HUM) utilize accountable care organizations (ACOs).

Cigna’s strategy, for example, is to execute patient outreach through the use of an “embedded care coordinator” with an ACO provider group. The company trains nurses, provides information on at-risk patients, and then informs nurses of which patients are being discharged from the hospital. The nurses then calls the patients at their home the day after their discharge to answer medical questions, confirm additional appointments, and keep patients educated on what to expect during recovery.

MIT Holdings’ solution offers doctors and hospitals the ability to refer their patients to the company’s comprehensive, one-source recovery service built on face-to-face patient contact. This first-of-its-kind service starts as soon as the patient is discharged from the hospital, at which time MIT assumes the responsibility of the recovery period. By building a personal relationship with the patient in the comfort of their own home, MIT has the unique ability to gather important information to meet MUR mandates.

If Cigna were to employ MIT’s solution, here’s how it would look: Cigna would be able to eliminate the expense and bureaucracy of the embedded care coordinator by eliminating the role altogether. Instead, MIT would meet with the patient at the time of discharge and if necessary would even accompany the patient home and help them determine each and every recovery need. MIT would also meet with other members in the household, and for the patient as well as those members would price pharmaceutical needs through the MIT pharmacy. Through this process, MIT, on behalf of Cigna, would establish a relationship with the patient that would promote clear and accurate communication, feedback and documentation. MIT is even capable of handling billing and insurance issues.

“We handle all the billing and all of the medical needs that an individual will need, and our record keeping will be through in-home interaction with the patient and will contain all of the information that Cigna, Aetna or Humana would need to report for the MUR,” explains William Nalley, IR representative for MIT Holding.

From the time of patient discharge from the medical facility, MIT’s services handle everything pertaining to the at-home recovery phase, including in-home medical equipment, infusion services, medications, follow-up appointments, organize therapy sessions, wound dressings, transportation, insurance inquires and professional insurance claim billing.

The goal is to make the patient feel like their care provider went home with them – there is no lapse in patient care or communication. All the patient needs to do is follow the MIT professional health caregiver’s instructions and recover while MIT documents the recovery of the patient, interacting with them one-on-one to help them properly, efficiently and quickly heal.

The digital paperwork MIT maintains in order to monitor the patients recovery contains all the information the hospital and doctors need to comply with the new rules. By recognizing the steep implications hospitals may face under the new requirements and developing a tested and sound solution, MIT has the potential to revolutionize the way doctors and hospitals gather and report patient recovery progress.

As more healthcare providers become aware of these services, MIT is catching wind in its sail, and recently reported first-quarter revenues of $489,854, more than double prior-year first-quarter revenues of $279,872. The company attributes this growth of 133.3% to an increase in customer referrals and subcontractor services. The first-quarter net loss of $9,654 represents a drastic cut from a loss of $105,726 a year ago. This resulted in a gross profit for the first quarter of $277,922, or 56.7%, as compared to gross profit for the same quarter in 2014 of $127,790, or 60.9%.

Moving forward, MIT will continue to market its comprehensive at-home recovery solutions and services as a viable solution to the healthcare industry’s growing demands.

For more information visit http://mitholdinginc.com/investors.html or contact William Nalley at 305-515-8077

Let us hear your thoughts: MIT Holding, Inc. Message Board

On Monday, Noble Life Science Partners, an advisory-focused investment and merchant banking boutique, announced the formation of a strategic partnership agreement with JSB-Partners, a boutique investment banking firm serving life sciences companies around the world.

“We are excited to join forces with JSB, as our fundamental research approach blends perfectly with JSB’s professional culture and passionate team,” stated Nico Pronk, President and Chief Executive Officer of Noble. “This relationship is strategic and leverages each other’s respective core competencies… Additionally, JSB’s global reach will position Noble to expand outside of North America.”

For the two companies, the partnership is mutually beneficial, particularly from a strategic growth perspective. JSB’s primary focus is on life sciences companies, which is in line with Noble’s fastest growing research vertical. Through exhaustive fundamental research of underlying scientific data, advanced scientific training and plentiful healthcare experience, Noble provides clients with a strong foundation and perspective through its industry-leading equity research. This dedication to excellence allows Noble to expertly position growing companies into the public markets.

JSB will be extremely beneficial in helping these newly public clients thrive within the life sciences industry. With key focus placed on product partnerships and private placements, JSB gives its clients the necessary tools to successfully procure vital resources without the need to dilute the ownership stake held by existing shareholders. The company also gives clients expert insight into the short and long-term benefits of potential mergers and acquisitions.

Through the newly announced strategic partnership, the two proven companies will be able to share resources and work under a common regulatory umbrella, expanding upon the effectiveness of the two investment banking providers, but the potential benefits of a long-term partnership go beyond short-term financial gains.

“While this aspect of the relationship is attractive, it’s the opportunity to cross-leverage our particular skill sets that excites me the most,” stated Dr. Wolfgang Stoiber, Co-founder and Partner of JSB. “Both organizations’ clients are the beneficiaries.”

Noble’s current range of services includes investment banking, merchant banking and client advisory, giving the company unfettered access to the growing life sciences vertical. Through its strategic partnership with JSB, the company gains immediate access to the tools necessary to increase its market presence in coming years while expanding into the global market. Look for Noble, as well as JSB, to continue providing clients with industry-leading investment services in the months to come.

For more information, visit www.novelsp.com and www.jsb-parners.com

Inventergy Global, Inc. (NASDAQ: INVT) leverages one of the world’s most experienced global licensing teams to assist Fortune 500 companies in securing the value of their innovations and achieving greater returns. By putting an end to the backroom bullying and dirty deals commonly associated with IP value creation, the company is helping its clients uncover the true value of IP to both corporations and the global economy. Inventergy’s unique commitment to transparency and ethical practices is helping to establish the company as a force in the rapidly expanding industry.

In recent years, the value of intellectual property (IP) has moved to the forefront of the corporate world. Multi-billion dollar patent litigation deals have grabbed the attention of corporate shareholders and board members, and executives are under more pressure than ever before to adequately manage and create value from IP assets. Inventergy alleviates this pressure by building a long-term relationship based on flexibility, investment into licensing efforts and shared revenue over time. By following this model, the company’s clients are able to realize greater potential gains with a managed level of risk.

According to a report by Ocean Tomo, intangible assets accounted for approximately 80 percent of S&P 500 market value in 2010, and that percentage is likely to increase moving forward. In order to maximize the value of these intangible assets, corporations will need to develop a suitable IP management strategy. Inventergy offers these businesses immediate access to an unparalleled wealth of knowledge that can open the door for key industry relationships that provide fair market value for licensed IP while adequately reflecting unique corporate brand and values. For growing corporations, this dedication to corporate identity could prove to be a significant long-term advantage in securing continued returns.

“Never underestimate the importance of having your IP strategy aligned with your brand and values,” stated Joe Beyers, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Inventergy.

Moving forward, look for Inventergy to continue growing its client base through a combination of integrity, transparency and fairness. By focusing on market-significant companies that don’t have the internal manpower to realize the appropriate returns on their innovation, Inventergy is in a strong strategic position to grow within the IP industry while simultaneously ushering in a new world in IP value creation.

For more information, visit www.inventergy.com

According to a report by Fox Business, natural gas flaring in one the country’s most active drilling regions – the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas – continued to increase in 2014. The Railroad Commission of Texas reported that more than 20 billion cubic feet of natural gas were burned in the first seven months of the year, and experts suggest that the industry has shown little capability of slowing down. Instead, oil and gas production companies have insisted that there is no feasible alternative to flaring, but Well Power, Inc. (OTCQB: WPWR) is closing in on an economically viable solution.

“Gas flaring is a wasteful industry practice that deserves more attention,” stated Zubin Bamji, an energy and extractives industry spokesman for the World Bank. “Governments and oil companies need to work together to identify solutions, whether technical, regulatory, financial, or a combination of all.”

Through an exclusive licensing agreement with ME Resource Corp., Well Power gained distribution rights for the development and commercialization of Micro-Refinery Units (MRUs) throughout the Lone Star State. The technology behind the MRU could provide drilling companies with a financially sound alternative to the wasteful practice of flaring. The scalable unit converts undervalued gas, including flared gas, into more valuable end products on-site, without the need for time-intensive infrastructure installation.

As of Well Power’s latest quarterly report, development is underway, with the first MRU expected to be completed within a year. The company expects to obtain financing, select an applicable site and begin construction of the unit by the end of the calendar year. The prototype MRU is expected to be fully transportable, providing the company with the opportunity to work with oil and gas landowners and operators to showcase the prototype and promote future sales.

“[The] Well Power management and consulting team are diligently working towards getting units tested and built for the field,” stated Cristian Neagoe, Chief Executive Officer of Well Power.

Well Power’s MRU design is flexible, scalable, modular, mobile, cost effective, energy efficient, high yield, single vessel, skid mounted and custom configured. With increasing regulatory attention on gas flaring, the company is in a strong strategic position to capitalize on the industry’s evolving landscape. As Well Power continues to navigate the hurdles involved with the construction and commercialization of its technology, it is an exciting time for investors of this growing company.

For more information, visit www.wellpowerinc.com

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Leveraging vast expertise in e-commerce and m-commerce enabling mobile payment technologies, as well as in crafting end-to-end payment and transaction processing solutions that can help supercharge commerce, Net Element (NASDAQ:NETE) continues to hammer out a sizeable presence in emerging markets, with their owned and operated TOT Group subsidiary being the tip of the spear. TOT Group’s family of companies includes TOT Money, a carrier-integrated mobile payment solutions provider, which is continually expanding its already unrivaled 49 country-spanning coverage footprint, through both innovation and growing its network of relationships with mobile providers around the world. Also in the mix is TOTmoney.ru, a mobile payments gateway focused on m-commerce and premium SMS that is specifically geared towards the Russian Federation market.

From both an e-commerce and payments perspective the Russian Federation is growing by leaps and bounds. A report out in April this year from the first international company dedicated to Russian digital industries (and a leading source for intelligence on this market), East-West Digital News, indicates that Russian e-commerce grew 5 percent last year to over $17 billion. With around 31 million consumers (roughly 32 percent of population over the age of 18) going online in 2014, even as over 42 percent of the entire 143 million person population now use the internet daily, the underlying growth metrics for e-commerce in Russia are tantalizing to say the least. While Russia handily outpaces Europe in terms of internet usage per capita, online retail turnover still lags behind more mature European markets, further showcasing the region’s long-term growth potential. Data from McKinsey out late last year shows similar metrics for the payments industry in Russia, with 30 percent growth per year in card issuance and some $50 billion a year in payments as of 2014, Russia is now the sixth largest payments market on earth.

E-commerce still represents only around 2 percent of the consumer space in Russia, with cash-on-delivery still predominating and e-commerce adoption in the outlying regions still having an enormous amount of room to grow compared to the capital. However, this is rapidly changing and with nearly 30 percent of 2014 e-commerce coming from cross-border sales, particularly from China, the need for e-commerce content localization, as well as mobile payment and processing capabilities, is greater than ever. Net Element is already poised to deliver a wealth of assistance in this growing market with some of the most appealing value-added transactional services available today at their fingertips and the recent announcement that the company has executed definitive documentation to acquire PayOnline, which currently processes online payments for 10 million plus active consumers, as well as thousands of merchants across Asia, Europe and the Russian Federation, substantially strengthens the company’s handle on this burgeoning space.

A growing depth of economic ties between Russia and China, including a recent $25 billion deal to increase Chinese lending to Russian firms, a $400 billion gas supply deal whereby Russia will deliver some 38 billion cubic meters of gas annually over 30 years (starting in 2018), as well as the formation of the New Development Bank, or BRICS bank, and the formation of the AIIB (Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank), heralds the start of a new geopolitical era where China and Russia will become increasingly more and more important markets for global e-commerce and payment solution providers. In such an environment, the direct agreements with Eurozone area and Russian Federation banks that are available to NETE via PayOnline’s architecture, which will allow seamless transactions in the U.S. for thousands of merchants located in those regions, as well as the same easy access for U.S. merchants to Asian, European and Russian markets, will be of inestimable value.

According to recent analysis on the Chinese e-commerce market by iResearch, e-commerce grew a whopping 21.3 percent between 2013 and 2014, to nearly $2 trillion, and it is expected to continue growing at a similar pace over the next few years, reaching upwards of $3.9 trillion by 2018. E-commerce retail alone, dominated by Alibaba’s Tmall (57 percent) and JD.com (21 percent), is on track to hit around $1 trillion by 2019 according to Forrester Research, with the online to offline (internet driving consumers to brick and mortar) and online travel markets making up the remainder, driven in large part by the rapid proliferation of mobile devices throughout China. In fact, most people in China use their mobile to get on the net according to Forrester, with 25 percent of respondents indicating they also shop via mobile at least once a week, in a space where Alibaba’s Tmall and Taobao apps currently dominate, holding over 85 percent of the market share.

Sandwiched between China and Russia, Kazakhstan’s e-commerce market is also set to rise handsomely in coming years, projected to increase over 38 percent to around $5 billion between 2015 and 2017, according to the country’s Ministry of Transport and Communications. Net Element has already moved to tie up this significant additional regional market as well, announcing that they have secured a contract with the biggest online ticket seller and second largest online merchant in the country, Kassir.com, as of early June 2015. Paired up with a key agreement between Net Element and KAZKOM, the country’s biggest bank, NETE’s soon-to-be-acquired subsidiary PayOnline will gain access to a huge payment processing market of over 2.4 million cardholders which stretches up north into Russia, as well as south into Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

Keen maneuvering by Net Element here to stitch up a regional strategy that is designed to make the company a service provider of choice. Developing key relationships with big banks and executing the acquisition of an established processor like PayOnline will go a long ways towards helping the company to grow its already formidable emerging market footprint.

Take a closer look by visiting www.netelement.com