Mobile phones have increasingly become tools that consumers use for banking, payments, budgeting, and shopping. Given the rapid pace of developments in the area of mobile finance, the Federal Reserve Board began conducting annual surveys of consumers’ use of mobile financial services in 2011. This 78-page report, “Consumers and Mobile Financial Services” (March, 2015) examines trends in the adoption and use of mobile banking, payments, and shopping behavior and how the emergence of mobile financial services affects consumers’ interaction with financial institutions.
Mobile Payment Company Square Raises $100 Million in Series C Financing
Square, the company revolutionizing everyday transactions between buyers and sellers, announced today that it has secured $100 million in Series C financing. The round was led by new Square investor Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers with participation from Tiger Global Management, LLC.
Square launched in early 2010 as an innovative way for individuals and businesses to accept payments on their mobile devices using an elegant and easy-to-use card reader and application. The company has seen widespread adoption since its launch and helped hundreds of thousands of businesses across the country to grow with its free hardware.
“Square has a great product with extensibility which we believe has the potential to have a lasting impact on how people make payments,” said Mary Meeker, Partner at KPCB. “Square’s product is fast, easy and fun for both consumers and vendors; a small business can be up and running within minutes.”
“Square is eager to continue our momentum and we are proud to have the support and expertise of KPCB among our team of investors and advisors,” said Jack Dorsey, Square CEO. “Our goal is to empower everyone to accept payments anywhere, and we are on course to accelerate our growth in a meaningful way.”
Square currently offers three products; the Square reader, register and card case. The Square reader takes only minutes to set up and enables anyone to accept payments anytime and anywhere on their iPhone, iPad and Android phones. The Square register for iPad serves as a full point of sale system for businesses to accept payments, track inventory, and share menu and location information. The Square card case is the neighborhood way to pay that enables individuals to open a tab at their favorite local merchants, store digital receipts, and browse nearby directory and menu listings.
Mary Meeker will be joining Square’s board on behalf of KPCB. Square also added two new board members earlier this month; economist Larry Summers and Vinod Khosla, Founder of Khosla Ventures.
PayNearMe Closes $16 Million Funding Round from Khosla Ventures
PayNearMe, the cash payment network, today announced that it has closed a $16 million round of financing led by Khosla Ventures. New investor August Capital and current investors True Ventures and Maveron also participated in the round. The company will use the funds to expand its network of retailer payment locations and payees, and to launch new service offerings, including its new mobile payment option, announced separately today.
PayNearMe also announced that payments veteran Mark Britto, CEO of BOKU and former BillMeLater board member, will join the company’s board of directors.
“We look to work with great entrepreneurs in big markets undergoing disruptive change,” said David Weiden, general partner of Khosla Ventures. “Danny has brought together a terrific team, and we are confident payment services with otherwise un-banked and under-banked consumers will change fundamentally over the next decade.”
“We like to invest in companies that solve problems in large, underserved markets,” said David Hornik, general partner of August Capital. “By combining the broad appeal of cash with PayNearMe’s highly flexible technology platform, the company can serve consumers and payees in almost every industry, including ecommerce, lending and transportation.”
“When I realized that PayNearMe could significantly improve consumers’ financial lives by offering cash payment services that are better, faster and significantly less expensive than existing alternatives, I wanted to get involved,” said Mark Britto, PayNearMe’s newest board member. “Plus, I know from my experiences at BOKU, BillMeLater and FirstUSA how valuable a new payment network can be to merchants if, like PayNearMe, it allows them to unlock large segments of new demand.”
“Every entrepreneur wants to work with board members and investors who share their passion for breaking the mold and building important businesses,” said Danny Shader, CEO of PayNearMe. “With David, David and Mark’s support, we will continue to build our suite of convenient, reliable, inexpensive and fraud-free offerings for consumers and payees across the United States.”
Source: PayNearMe
BOKU
BOKU allows consumers to make online payments using a mobile phone for payment of digital goods and social experiences across the web. With a focus on reliability and security, BOKU’s goal is to bring bank-grade payments technology and mobile users together on the web, creating a trusted, viable and accessible market for consumers, publishers and carriers alike.
Based in San Francisco with offices in Europe, Asia and Latin America, BOKU reaches over 1.8 billion consumers worldwide.
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