Mastercard, Ryd Eye European Fleet Payments Opportunity

Munich-based mobility technology company ryd has collaborated with Mastercard to launch a digital-first payment operating system for fleets across Europe.

The system, ryd fleet, is powered by a combination of ryd’s digital mobility platform and Mastercard’s global acceptance network and virtual card technology, Mastercard said in a Thursday (May 21) press release.

With ryd fleet, drivers can pay for fuel, charging, washing and other fleet-related expenses across Europe, wherever Mastercard is accepted, directly through the mobile app or the vehicle’s infotainment system, according to the release.

The system can record receipts, odometer readings and trip details within the app at the point of use. It also allows fleet managers to set spend limits across categories at the driver or vehicle level.

The new ryd fleet joins ryd’s existing consumer app, which has more than 1 million users, per the release.

“The fleet and mobility industry is ready for a technological leap that supports greater efficiency, transparency and control across their operations,” ryd CEO Florian Böhme said in the release. “In collaboration with Mastercard, we are accelerating this vision by replacing the physical fleet card with a fully digital platform consisting of the ryd fleet portal, the ryd app as well as in-car solutions designed for modern fleets.”

Böhme said in a Friday (May 22) post on LinkedIn that fleet operators across Europe are still dealing with fleet payments that run on plastic cards, paper receipts and manual reconciliation.

“With increasing regulatory requirements around EV charging reimbursement, tax compliance and ESG reporting, fragmented payment systems are becoming a liability,” Böhme said in the post. “ryd fleet is a fully digital, auditable platform that removes that liability entirely.”

Mastercard offers a range of fleet cards and other solutions to support fleet operators of all sizes. These solutions are backed by the company’s more than two decades of global fleet expertise, according to the Thursday press release.

“Fleet and mobility payments today are highly fragmented,” Tulsi Narayan, head of commercial and new payment flows, Europe at Mastercard, said in the release. “By combining ryd’s digital platform with Mastercard’s global network and virtual card capabilities, we are helping deliver a more seamless, digital-first fleet experience across Europe, enabling fleet operators and managers to simplify payments, manage spend and gain greater visibility into expenses.”

Mastercard said in February that it launched a portfolio of fleet management solutions in the Asia-Pacific region. This Mastercard Fleet: Next Gen portfolio is designed for fleets of all sizes and brings together payments, data and controls.