EXCLUSIVE— Contactless, cashless payments are on the rise in retail, driven forward as payment companies like Mastercard and Visa increase support for these solutions.

This is according to Steve Herbert, CEO and Chairman for USA Technologies during the company’s most recent quarterly earnings, reported yesterday.

USA Technologies, a payments company, has a market capitalization of about $258 million.

Herbert noted that an increasing number of retail industries, such as food service and the laundry industry, for instance, are seeing an uptick in contactless and cashless as traditional financial service companies adopt them.

Said Herbert:

We’re also seeing increased momentum and uptake of cashless and contactless payment in our other vertical markets. For example, in the commercial laundry industry which is estimated to be a nearly $5 billion market, contactless payments have more than doubled in the past year for our partner.

The growth of cashless acceptance in the unattended retail market is aided by our partners both in the payments industry and financial partners like Chase, Mastercard and Visa.

Of course, Apple Pay continues to maintain an influence in payments. Support for Apple Pay by USA Technologies is driving more adoption of mobile (ie, cashless) payments, leading to a higher number of transactions and more revenue for USA Technologies clients, Herbert said.

In addition to the capabilities it already supports, USA is expanding its payments ecosystem by partnering with companies like the Ingenico Group, which currently has 32 million payment terminals in about 170 countries, according to Herbert.

The adoption of cashless and contactless payment abilities is going to continue to expand within retail and other industries, he said:

We believe other large industry operators are witnessing this transition and at some point during the not-so-distant future, we believe that in order for an operator to be competitive in securing locations, cashless acceptance will be a must-have item in addressing any competitive situation or our uptake.

The company reported $34.3 million of revenue for last quarter. Shares are currently trading at $5.12, down about 2%, today.