US card start-up Dynamics Inc has bagged $35 million in a Series B funding round led by Bain capital. The company, which produces a line of battery-powered mag-stripe cards, says the new funding will enable it to extend the technology to cover chip and RFID-based contactless cards as well as mobile payments.
Pittsburgh-based Dynamics produces a range of programmable mag-stripe cards, that use embedded electronics and button-press options to offer cardholders alternative check-out and security options, including the ability to redeem points and switch between debit and credit.
The company launched the Card 2.0 technology last autumn following a four-year stealth operation and signed up Citibank as an early pilot for its Redemption Card which offers cardholders the option to pay by 'regular credit', or press a 'request rewards' button to redeem points or cash rewards with a single swipe of the card.
The company says it will use the new funding to expand its team and production capacity and to roll out new innovations for EMV chip cards and mobile payments.
"Dynamics is deploying a payments platform that re-defines the boundary of consumer electronics design while building out a volume manufacturing capability that would rival the largest consumer electronics companies in the world," says Jeff Mullen, CEO of Dynamics. "The Dynamics Card 2.0 products will finally give consumers choice at the point-of-sale. And, this is just the beginning. We will continue to introduce exciting new payments products that we've been refining in our labs over the last few years."