NEW YORK – Rogers Ventures, the venture capital arm of Rogers Communications, is investing in mobile payment provider Payfone.
The New-York based company announced the closing of its $19 million strategic funding round, which includes new investments from American Express, and Verizon, as well as from existing investors Opus Capital, BlackBerry Partners Fund and RRE Ventures. Payfone said that its new funds will be used to “continue innovations in its market approach and to support its global expansion across North America, EMEA, Latin America and Asia”.
"Strategic investment from major operator players like Verizon Investments Inc. and Rogers Ventures, as well as backing from a prestigious financial institution like American Express, is not only a testament to our unique approach, but it also demonstrates our industrial strength offering," said Rodger Desai, Payfone co-founder and CEO, in a statement. "Mobile payments will form a major cornerstone in operator and merchant digital payment strategies moving forward. We look forward to enabling operators to participate in the transaction flow and benefit from an entirely new revenue source, while driving home our own mission to make the mobile phone number the accepted way to pay."
Payfone leverages the existing assets of mobile operators, such as the global SS7 signaling network, for directly connected payment authorization and processing. It’s simple and secure checkout and in-app payments service allows consumers to purchase digital and physical goods using their mobile phone number.
