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Posted By

Aaron Mireles

PODCAST HOUSTON FINTECH STARTUP TAPS INTO NEW TECH TO MODERNIZE 'DAILY JOURNEYS'

Before Don Frieden started his company, gas stations hadn’t innovated their payment technology
since 1997. He knew that needed to change.

Original Post | Innovationmap

Before Don Frieden started his company, gas stations hadn't innovated their payment technology since 1997. He knew that needed to change.

P97, founded in 2012, exists to use innovative technologies to simplify and energize daily journeys, Frieden explains on the Houston Innovators Podcast.

The fast-growing company — which has nearly 200 employees, most of whom work from Houston — has raised over $100 million in venture funding, according to Crunchbase, most recently closing a $40 million series C round earlier this year. This funding has supported P97 as its expanded its technology, even expanding outside of gas station payments and into other sectors, like consumer packaged goods, mobile app development, and alternative fuel sources.

Part of what P97 is focused on too is adapting new technologies, including biometrics, and applying them to the payments world. Voice-enabled payments is something in particular that Frieden is working on.

"One of the things we’re most excited about is voice enable payments through our partnership with Amazon's Alexa," he explains. "The landscape of payments at gas stations underwent this next revolution, and we're using cutting-edge speech recognition and artificial intelligence to allow drivers to pay for fuel just using their voice.

"It makes the process faster and more efficient, and is completely hands-free," he continues, explaining that biometrics are also safer compared to card transactions. "From this time I say, 'Alexa, buy gas,' six seconds later, the gas would be turned on and any loyalty rewards I have would be applied, all from the comfort of my car."

Frieden shares more about the future of P97, payments, and the energy industry as it intersects with P97 — including the future of alternative fuels — on the podcast. Listen to the interview below — or wherever you stream your podcasts — and subscribe for weekly episodes.

SAN RAMON, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–In a move to enhance its mobile apps for Chevron and Texaco consumers, Chevron Products Co., a division of Chevron U.S.A. Inc., today announced a new collaboration with mobile commerce leader P97 Networks to make every-day transactions for purchasing fuel and food or participating in loyalty offers as simple as unlocking your smartphone.

The new collaboration taps P97 Networks’ leadership in mobile commerce, cutting-edge technology solutions and demonstrated history of innovation to continue enhancing the customer experience at more than 7,800 Chevron and Texaco retail stations across the United States. This includes enabling personalized offers, mobile payments for fuel and EV charging, omni-channel marketing campaigns, and future functionalities aimed at facilitating contactless, frictionless payment transactions that are anticipated for the future.

“Chevron is dedicated to providing products and services for people on the go and continuing to address their needs in the retail of the future,” said Harry Hazen, Chevron senior manager of Americas Marketing. “Our collaboration with P97 strengthens that commitment – delivering a premium consumer experience at Chevron and Texaco locations by enabling our offerings with consistency, speed, consumer value, and security.”

The announcement with P97 Networks also augments Chevron’s history of success when it comes to the Chevron and Texaco mobile apps, including collaborations with Venmo and PayPal on payment methods, as well as with Honda Innovations on a Connected Car digital experience.

“At P97, we’ve been developing secure cloud-based mobile commerce and digital marketing solutions for the convenience retail and fuels marketing industries for years,” said Don Frieden, P97 Networks founder and CEO. “We look forward to our collaboration with Chevron and helping them continue to support consumers on their driving journey.”

About Chevron

Chevron is one of the world’s leading integrated energy companies. We believe affordable, reliable and ever- cleaner energy is essential to achieving a more prosperous and sustainable world. Chevron produces crude oil and natural gas; manufactures transportation fuels, lubricants, petrochemicals and additives; and develops technologies that enhance our business and the industry. To advance a lower-carbon future, we are focused on cost efficiently lowering our carbon intensity, increasing renewables and offsets in support of our business, and investing in low-carbon technologies that enable commercial solutions. More information about Chevron is available at www.chevron.com.

About P97 Networks

P97 Networks provides a secure, mobile commerce and behavioral marketing platform that transforms mobile commerce for the convenience retail, fuel, and vehicle manufacturing industries. P97’s platform enhances the ability to attract, engage, and retain customers by securely connecting millions of individual mobile phones and connected cars with merchants using identity, geolocation-based software that creates a unique mobile consumer experience. For more information, visit www.p97.com.

Contacts

Media Contacts
Chevron
Dan Foscalina
P: 925-842-6372

P97 Networks
Aaron Mireles
P: 713-588-4216
Aaron.Mireles@p97.com