How Ajax Systems launched EU subscriptions in one week with 90%+ approval rates
1 week Time to market
90%+Approval rate
Industry
Security hardware & SaaSRegion
EU, UKUse case
B2C/B2B subscription payments, global coverage, tax complianceFeatures used
Subscription management, orchestration, tax automationAt a glance
built their reputation on premium security hardware. For over a decade, Ajax has built property security systems trusted by millions around the world.
In 2025, they decided to expand their mission to protect the digital world and launch B2B subscription offerings for SIM connectivity and cloud-based storage to complement their hardware ecosystem.
When they decided to enter the SaaS space, they knew that handling payments would be one of their biggest challenges. Their payment infrastructure was built for one-time hardware sales, not recurring digital subscriptions.
Building in-house would take 6-12 months. Stitching together multiple vendors would create complexity. They needed a plug-and-play system that would speed up their launch, optimized for high payment performance across the EU and UK markets.
This is the story of how a hardware company launched their first subscription business in one week – without building infrastructure from scratch or sacrificing payment performance.
Three roadblocks to launch
Three problems threatened to delay Ajax’s go-to-market by multiple quarters:
No subscription-ready payment infrastructure
Ajax Systems needed a payment stack that could handle , , subscription lifecycle management, and customer self-service – all integrated with their existing systems. Building this in-house would take 6-12 months of development time plus ongoing maintenance.
They needed a plug-and-play solution that their technical team could integrate quickly without derailing other priorities. Most payment providers offered pieces of the puzzle but required significant custom development to connect subscription logic, tax compliance, and payment acceptance.
Uncertain payment performance in new markets
Ajax Systems was launching recurring billing in the EU, where they had limited payment data. They needed high approval rates from day one – not after months of optimization. A poor payment experience would damage their brand reputation and make customer acquisition economics unviable.
Without established relationships with EU acquirers or experience optimizing for regional issuer behavior, they had no guarantee their payments would perform well. Standard payment processors couldn't commit to specific approval rate targets for a new merchant.
Tax compliance complexity across EU jurisdictions
Selling digital subscriptions across EU countries meant navigating VAT compliance, tax rate calculations, and reporting requirements that varied by jurisdiction. Getting this wrong would create legal and financial risk.
In the EU, B2B transactions require proper invoices with detailed VAT breakdowns sent to business customers – a legal obligation, not a nice-to-have. Building custom invoicing logic that collected the right customer data (VAT numbers, billing entities, jurisdictional information) and formatted it correctly for each EU market would require significant development effort.
At the same time, most subscription platforms treated tax as an afterthought, leaving merchants to figure it out themselves or integrate yet another third-party service.
Ajax Systems needed a partner who could deliver four things simultaneously: subscription-ready payment infrastructure, , integrated tax compliance – all with minimal technical lift and fast time-to-market.
When Solidgate approached Ajax Systems with an integrated payment platform designed for exactly this use case, the fit was immediate.
Building global subscription infrastructure in one week
Ajax Systems partnered with Solidgate to build their global subscription payment infrastructure from the ground up.
Solidgate solution addressed four areas: subscription-ready infrastructure, high-performance EU payment acceptance, integrated compliance, and operational simplification.
Subscription infrastructure ready out of the box
Ajax Systems implemented Solidgate's , which handled:
● Recurring billing cycles and payment scheduling
● Faster payment recovery with smart retry logic
● Customer self-service portal for subscription management
● Webhook integration with Ajax's systems for real-time updates
The platform supported both B2C (SIM, cloud storage) and B2B use cases without custom development. Ajax's small technical team integrated the API in days, not months.
High-performance payment orchestration for EU markets
To guarantee strong approval rates from day one, Solidgate deployed:
● with Tier-1 EU banks for optimal routing and local issuer relationships in target markets
● to direct transactions to the best-performing acquirer by country, card type, and transaction characteristics
● to improve authorization rates and reduce friction in recurring payments
This setup achieved 90%+ approval rates across EU markets from launch – critical for customer acquisition economics in a subscription business where every declined payment is lost recurring revenue.
Integrated tax compliance for EU operations
automated VAT calculations, tax rate determination, and compliance reporting across EU jurisdictions. Tax logic is directly integrated into the payment flow, so there's no need to manage separate systems.
For Ajax's B2B subscription business, Solidgate went further by developing custom invoicing functionality tailored to their regulatory requirements. The system automatically collected necessary customer information – VAT identification numbers, legal entity details, and billing jurisdiction data – then generated compliant invoices with detailed VAT breakdowns for every B2B transaction.
Ajax Systems could confidently sell across borders without worrying about miscalculating tax rates or missing compliance requirements.
Custom financial reporting for operational visibility
Solidgate provided Ajax Systems with unified updated monthly. Instead of reconciling data across separate systems for subscriptions, payments, and tax, leadership could see their entire digital revenue stream in one view.
Live in one week, built to scale
Ajax Systems launched their B2В subscription service ahead of schedule, avoiding the multi-quarter delay that would have cost them a market opportunity.
With Solidgate's integrated platform in place, Ajax Systems saw immediate impact:
● One-week integration and go-live, compared to the 6-12 months it would have taken to build in-house or stitch together multiple providers
● 90%+ approval rates across EU markets from day one, ensuring smooth customer acquisition without payment failures harming conversion
● Operational efficiency through platform consolidation, eliminating the need to manage separate vendors for subscriptions, payments, and tax compliance
● Scalable foundation for geographic expansion, with infrastructure ready to support new regions
Beyond the launch metrics, Ajax Systems gained the foundation to scale their digital payments globally. They can now add new subscription products, enter new markets, and optimize payment performance without rebuilding infrastructure.
How MEGOGO saves €100K on payment costs a year
Read how MEGOGO boosted conversion by 3.5%, cut churn by 5%, and saved €100K/year with Solidgate.
How MEGOGO saves €100K on payment costs a year
Read how MEGOGO boosted conversion by 3.5%, cut churn by 5%, and saved €100K/year with Solidgate.