Intuit Acquires Mobile Payments Company AisleBuyer, Will Integrate Into GoPayment, POS Solutions. AisleBuyer, makers of a virtual shopping assistant app that lets in-store customers bypass checkout lines by paying directly on their mobile phone, has been acquired by Intuit. The Boston-based startup will be joining Intuit’s payments team, where their technology will be used to transition Intuit’s existing point-of-sale solutions as well as Intuit’s Square competitor GoPayment to the cloud. The solution will also be opened up to Intuit’s own developers as well as third-party developers, according to the company. The announcement, which was rumored earlier this week, was confirmed by AisleBuyer CEO Andrew Paradise on the company’s blog. He writes, I’m really happy to share with you that the rumors are true! AisleBuyer has joined the Intuit team to develop superior solutions to meet the mobile point of sale needs for small business. The two companies had begun working together in partnership this year, exploring integration possibilities between the two companies’ solutions.
What Took So Long? Germany’s Samwer Brothers Rumored to Launch a Square Clone Soon. Square, the mobile payment startup founded by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, is one of Silicon Valley’s hottest companies right now. It’s no surprise then, that German clone factory Rocket Internet, which is run by brothers Mac, Oliver and Alexander Samwer, is now rumored to be developing its own blatant Square clone. According to German startup blog Deutsche Startups, the clone, which will supposedly be called Zenpay, is currently one of Rocket Internet’s top priorities, though it is not clear when and where it will launch. The source that talked to Deutsche Startups, however, did indicate that Rocket Internet is planning to launch Zenpay “globally.” Given the nature of these payment systems, however, this seems rather unlikely. Rocket Internet currently offers a wide variety of clones, including its own versions of Airbnb, Zynga and Pinterest, among others.
This experience with Groupon will likely help Rocket Internet with its Square clone. Google Buys TxVia, Banks On Better Payment Technology (And 100M Customers) For Google Wallet. Google has had a few teething problems with its ambitious mobile payments service Google Wallet, but it is also putting some money down to get it on the right track. Today the company announced that it would buy TxVia, a mobile payments technology company, for an undisclosed amount. Osama Bedier, VP of Wallet and Payments at Google, says in a blog post that the acquisition will be used to “complement” the work already done on Google Wallet, Google’s service that enables payments, discounts and loyalty points — and the ability to make those transactions mobile using selected NFC handsets.
The news comes at the same time that Google Wallet is losing some of its key people, including Rob von Behren, one of the founding engineers, who has now joined mobile payments startup Square; and other competitors like PayPal continue to expand their own mobile payments operations. TxVia’s management team, which includes CEO Anil D. Loyalty Service Swipely Adds Analytics And Targeted Campaigns. Swipely, the startup led by TellMe Founder Angus Davis, is doubling down on its credit card-based loyalty strategy. The company first launched as a way to share your credit card purchases with your friends, but when that idea (as deployed by Swipely and others) failed to take off, Swipely shifted its focus to helping merchants with their loyalty programs.
Today, it’s launching the Main Street Marketing Manager, which includes the existing loyalty tools as well as more detailed analytics and a way to launch campaigns that target lapsed customers. Now, when a business signs up, Swipely can look at the credit card data and break down their recent versus lapsed customers.
For example, Swipely might point out that two-thirds of their customers haven’t come in during the last 60 days. Businesses can import their customer contact information into Swipely, and the startup can also create a tab for loyalty program sign ups on a company’s Facebook page. Interested businesses can sign up here. Visa Acquires Mobile Financial Services Company Fundamo For $110M In Cash. Visa this morning announced that it has agreed to acquire Fundamo, a specialist mobile financial services provider to network operators and financial institutions in developing economies, for $110 million in cash.
In a separate announcement, the giant payments technology company said it has entered into a new, long-term commercial agreement with Monitise, a provider of mobile money solutions for financial institutions in more developed regions. Here’s how the duo of agreements was pitched: The combination of acquiring Fundamo and expanding the relationship with Monitise will enable Visa to deliver best-in-class mobile financial services and payments capabilities to consumers across the full spectrum of uses, geographies and mobile environments from basic services on simple handsets to more advanced services for smart phone owners. Mobile Banking Consolidation: Monitise Buys Clairmail For $173 Million.
One more sign of the mobile money space continuing to grow up: some significant consolidation underway. Today, the UK-based mobile banking specialists Monitise announced that it is buying Clairmail, a U.S. -based competitor, for $173 million, as part of its global expansion. The combined group says it will serve 13 million customers world-wide processing some $10 billion of payments weekly, and will give Monitise a much bigger and direct presence in the North American market: one-third of the top 50 U.S. financial institutions are now clients of the group. Monitise and Clairmail both focus on an “infrastructure” play around mobile banking and mobile payments. Alastair Lukies, Monitise Group CEO, tells me that Monitise is not actively looking for further acquisitions but that, “if opportunities come along, we will take them seriously.”
He says that for now Monitise is not interested in acquiring those smaller companies: “We are not into the piloting and the bleeding edge stuff,” he says.