The Sunshine Group

What The Sunshine Group does

The Sunshine Group INC is a private merchant services provider headquartered in Indianapolis, USA, founded in 2016 and operating with a 1-10 employee footprint. The company functions as a certified independent sales division of CardConnect Corp (operating under the BancardSales brand), reselling the CardPointe payment processing platform to small and medium-sized US businesses across retail, mobile, and e-commerce channels. Sole principal Nancy Sunshine handles operator-led inside sales consultations via Calendly, supported by an online self-serve application flow on the company website.

The product offering is built entirely on top of the resold CardPointe stack, providing multi-channel payment acceptance via countertop terminals (Ingenico Desk 5000 at $419 and Desk 3500 at $265), a Bluetooth mobile reader (VP3300 at $135), and a USB SecuRED reader ($150). Underlying security is provided by CardConnect's patented point-to-point encryption and tokenization technology (CardSecure), with PCI compliance management delivered through a Trustwave integration. The platform additionally offers virtual terminals, hosted payment pages, invoice links, recurring billing, and software integrations with QuickBooks Online, WooCommerce, and Clover POS, extending utility beyond in-person card swipe into card-not-present, subscription, and integrated POS workflows.

The business model layers a $15/month platform subscription fee on top of per-transaction processing residuals (the bulk of revenue in a typical ISO economics) and one-time hardware sales. Go-to-market runs through digital self-serve plus operator-led consultations, with an explicit no-long-term-contract, month-to-month posture positioned as a customer-friendly differentiator within the commoditized SMB merchant services segment. The company is unfunded and operates without a parent, creating both capital-discipline optionality and key-person concentration risk around a single named operator.

Name

The Sunshine Group

Legal name

The Sunshine Group INC

Website

https://thesunshinegroupinc.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Sunshine Group is a private Indianapolis-based merchant services reseller offering the CardPointe payment processing platform to small and medium-sized US businesses across retail, mobile, and e-commerce channels via operator-led direct sales.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Indianapolis

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Technology or R&D, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Platform Subscription: Monthly access fee of $15 per month for the CardPointe merchant account processing platform. Includes access to the processing and reporting dashboard, virtual terminal, mobile app, and various payment acceptance tools.
2. Hardware Sales: Sale of payment terminals and card readers including Desk 3500 ($265), Desk 5000 ($419), VP3300 mobile reader ($135), and USB SecuRED card reader ($150). One-time hardware purchase.
3. Payment Processing Fees: Transaction-based fees for processing credit card payments. Statement archive shows automatic monthly billing for corresponding processing fees alongside the monthly access fee.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

The Sunshine Group is a merchant services reseller that delivers the CardPointe payment processing platform to small and medium-sized U.S. businesses for credit and debit card acceptance across retail countertop, mobile, virtual terminal, hosted payment page, and invoice-based channels. The offering bundles a $15/month platform subscription with PCI-certified point-to-point encryption, patented tokenization, real-time reporting, and compatible hardware terminals and readers.

Product overview

The Sunshine Group offers The CardPointe Platform as a unified payment processing ecosystem developed by CardConnect. The core platform ($15/month) provides retail, online, and mobile payment acceptance through multiple delivery channels: countertop terminals (Ingenico Desk/3500 and Desk/5000), mobile card readers (VP3300), USB card readers (SecuRED), a virtual terminal for browser-based processing, a mobile app for on-the-go transactions, and a hosted payment page for online payments. Additional modules include CardPointe Invoice Links for payment requests, Transaction Management for comprehensive reporting and customer profiles, and Software Integrations connecting with QuickBooks Online, WordPress/WooCommerce, and Clover POS. The platform is secured by CardConnect's patented point-to-point encryption (P2PE) and tokenization technology.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• CardPointe Platform Access Monthly subscription to the CardPointe payment processing platform at $15/month, bundling retail, online, and mobile payment acceptance with the processing and reporting dashboard, virtual terminal, mobile app, hosted payment page, invoice links, recurring billing, PCI compliance tools, and developer API access.
• Ingenico Desk/3500 Terminal Plug-and-play countertop payment terminal for SMB merchants supporting magnetic stripe, EMV chip, and NFC contactless transactions with IP/ethernet connectivity and PCI-validated point-to-point encryption, priced at $265.
• Ingenico Desk/5000 Terminal Advanced countertop payment terminal with EMV, NFC, and magnetic stripe support, receipt printing, settlement reporting, PCI-validated P2PE, and interchange optimization, priced at $419.
• ID TECH VP3300 Mobile Card Reader Bluetooth mobile card reader for iOS devices accepting MagStripe, EMV, and NFC/contactless payments including Apple Pay and Google Pay, priced at $135 and paired with the CardPointe Mobile app.
• ID TECH SecuRED USB Card Reader PCI SRED certified magnetic stripe USB card reader with hardware encryption and tamper resistance for achieving PCI scope reduction in P2PE solutions, priced at $150.

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• CardConnect/CardPointecoreTechnology or IntegrationCardConnect developed the CardPointe payment processing platform. The Sunshine Group is a certified reseller of CardPointe, powered by CardConnect's P2PE and tokenization technology. CardConnect is a registered ISO of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. and Synovus Bank.
• BancardSalescoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorBancardSales is a certified independent sales division of CardConnect Corp. The Sunshine Group operates as part of this partner network, reselling CardPointe payment processing services through BancardSales infrastructure.
• RainmakersminorGTM or Marketing PartnerListed as a partner organization alongside BancardSales, suggesting a marketing or referral partnership relationship.
• Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.coreOthersWells Fargo Bank, N.A., Walnut Creek, CA is a registered ISO (Independent Sales Organization) for CardConnect/CardPointe payment processing.
• Synovus BankcoreOthersSynovus Bank, Columbus, GA is a registered ISO (Independent Sales Organization) for CardConnect/CardPointe payment processing.

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Clover (Fiserv): Clover is a POS and payment processing platform from Fiserv offering countertop, mobile, and online acceptance for SMBs. The Sunshine Group already integrates with Clover POS, and Clover competes directly for SMB merchant relationships with end-to-end hardware-software-payment bundles.
• Stripe: Stripe is a leading payment processing platform serving online and omnichannel businesses with APIs, hosted checkout, and integrated POS hardware. It competes for the same SMB and mid-market merchants that The Sunshine Group targets, particularly for online and card-not-present volumes.
• North American Bancard: North American Bancard is a large ISO providing payment processing, POS, and merchant cash advance services to SMBs. It competes directly with The Sunshine Group for SMB merchant accounts and operates at substantially greater scale.
• Stax (formerly Fattmerchant): Stax is a subscription-based payment processor targeting SMBs with transparent monthly pricing, omnichannel hardware, and integrations to accounting and POS software — a near-direct analog of The Sunshine Group's $15/month-plus-residual model.
• Payment Depot: Payment Depot is an SMB merchant services ISO offering wholesale-rate payment processing with membership-style pricing. It competes for the same cost-conscious small business segment as The Sunshine Group's CardPointe offering.
• Square (Block): Square provides integrated payment processing, POS hardware, and software for SMBs across retail, mobile, and online channels. It is a direct competitor in the SMB payment acceptance market where The Sunshine Group operates, but with a vertically integrated technology stack rather than a reseller model.
• Dharma Merchant Services: Dharma is an SMB-focused payment processor emphasizing transparent interchange-plus pricing and high-touch service. It targets the same small-to-mid-sized business segment that The Sunshine Group serves through CardPointe.
• Helcim: Helcim is an SMB-focused payment processor offering interchange-plus pricing, hardware, virtual terminal, and online acceptance — directly overlapping The Sunshine Group's CardPointe retail/online/mobile value proposition.

Broad incumbents

• Heartland Payment Systems (Global Payments): Heartland, now part of Global Payments, is a large incumbent payment processor serving SMB through enterprise merchants with POS, online, and integrated commerce solutions. It overlaps The Sunshine Group's SMB processing offering but as part of a much broader portfolio.
• PayPal: PayPal is a broad incumbent in digital payments offering merchant processing, POS (Zettle/PayPal Here), and online checkout. It competes for the same SMB acceptance needs across both online and in-person channels as The Sunshine Group.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

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Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The Sunshine Group