Mobile technology is enabling credit and debit card purchases, anywhere and at anytime. This innovation has created a new wave of non-store merchants such as those selling goods at festivals, Farmer’s Markets or temporary kiosks to receive card Payments without physically wired devices.
Among innovators in European market is SumUp. With backers including American Express, Groupon, BBVA Ventures, SumUp provides mobile point of sale (mPOS) devices that can be linked to any tablet or smartphone to collect credit and card payments in 13 countries around the world.
Raising additional financing to fund their future, SumUp announced today that Venture Incubator AG, a Swiss venture capital firm, is the latest investor in their company. SumUp didn’t provide details of the investment, but together with the previous round, the firm has now raised €40 million in total funding. For SumUp, beyond the investment, the firm may also gain strategic benefits by onboarding Venture Incubator AG as a partner. Investors of the VC firm include notable Swiss firms such as Credit Suisse, ABB and Nestlé who could help promote SumUp’s mPOS technology.
According to SumUp, the firm will be using the new funds to expand its technological capabilities to continue its roll out of an end-to-end payment system with a focus on contactless features. The investment will also assist SumUp in expanding its services to two new countries this year.
Commenting about the funding, Daniel Klein, CEO of SumUp stated, "The investment of Venture Incubator AG is a further validation on our way to become the global market leader of electronic payment acceptance. For this both our technological lead and our international presence are deciding factors. We are looking forward to fuelling our product development and international growth with this fresh financing. We have big plans and are going to add more markets to our world map, inside and outside of Europe, this year."
Daniel Gutenberg, Partner at Venture Incubator, with focus on IT, added, "Since entering the market in 2012, SumUp’s team has successfully defined completely new rules of the game for the mPOS market and has enabled thousands of merchants to accept card payments in the most cost-effective way. As new investors we are excited to accompany the further growth of SumUp."
