DKV Mobility has agreed a deal to acquire the outstanding shares in PACE, a leading provider of mobile payment solutions for fuel.

Robin Schönbeck (left) and Philip Blatter (right), founders and co-managing directors of PACE, with Sebastian Klauke, CEO DKV Mobility (Photo: DKV Mobility)

The deal, terms of which have not been disclosed, comes after DKV Mobility acquired a minority stake in PACE in autumn 2020.

PACE will remain an independent company within the DKV Mobility Group.

The business was founded in 2015 in Karlsruhe, Germany, with the goal of driving digital transformation in the fuel industry.

The company operates the Connected Fueling platform, which enables mobile payment directly at the pump and is said to deliver the industry standard for fuel card virtualisation.

The vendor-neutral platform, which is open to all oil companies, service station operators, fuel card issuers and point-of-sale system providers, is now available at more than 10,800 fuel stations in 15 countries. PACE also offers its Drive app, which enables mobile payment at the pump and has more than 1.5 million users.

DKV Mobility uses PACE’s Connected Fueling platform for the operation of its App&Go digital fuel card. With App&Go, customers can authorise fuel transactions directly at the pump without the need for a physical card. The App&Go acceptance network currently includes around 8,000 service stations in 13 countries and is being continuously expanded.

Sebastian Klauke, CEO of DKV Mobility, said: “DKV Mobility is committed to offering its customers and partners a constantly growing range of innovative digital services that they can use conveniently and securely with their mobile devices.

“PACE has established itself as the European market leader for mobile payments in the fuel station market and for the virtualisation of fuel cards in recent years, making them the ideal strategic partner to drive the digitalisation of the fuel station market.”

Philip Blatter, founder and co-managing director of PACE, said: “By further expanding our collaboration, we will retain our DNA – and now also benefit from DKV Mobility’s many years of experience. For us, this is the next logical step towards an even stronger future. Together with the team, we look forward to further advancing PACE in the next phase of growth – with a lot of momentum and new opportunities.”

The closing of the transaction is still subject to regulatory approvals.