mobeam, inc. announced today that it has closed a $4.9 million Series A venture round, receiving funding from yet2Ventures, Samsung Ventures and Mitsui, together with other independent investors.
mobeam's patented technology overcomes the technical barrier preventing mobile phones from interacting with the laser scanners used at retail locations around the world. Funds from this multimillion dollar funding round will be used to establish mobeam's light based communications (LBC) technology as a new industry standard allowing mobile phones to interact with point of sale (POS) technology. mobeam is also using these new funds to accelerate business development efforts with major consumer and retail brands for mobile couponing and other broad mobile commerce initiatives.
"Laser scanners are used in all major retail locations throughout the world, yet no current mobile technology can communicate with them, except for mobeam," said Ben duPont, general partner of yet2Ventures. "Increasingly, mobile phones are the centerpiece of everyone's daily lives, but in order to deliver a complete digital commerce experience they must communicate universally with scanners at point of sale. That's the beauty of mobeam; 'mobeaming' a barcode works accurately and reliably every time, and it makes the technologies retailers already have far more useful while adding a new layer of intelligence gathering for retailers and brands."
Due to the way mobile handset screens are constructed, even the most vibrantly displayed barcode cannot be read by the commonly used laser scanners found at point of sale in most retailers. mobeam technology affordably adapts existing mobile technology to already deployed retail POS infrastructure, opening the door to a wide range of previously impossible mobile commerce programs and services.
mobeam's patented light based communication (LBC) technology utilizes LED technology already used on the vast majority of handsets to transform barcodes into a beam of light that every laser scanner can read. This technology makes it possible, for the first time, for a phone to present a coupon that can be easily and conveniently scanned and redeemed, without the need for retailers to upgrade their technology. Beyond mobile couponing, mobeam's technology brings applications such as mobile ticketing and other mobile content enabled services to the next level.
"mobeam's technology addresses virtually every POS environment," said Chris Sellers, CEO of mobeam. "Not only is mobeam the only way to use light to interact with a laser scanner, our technology can also simultaneously display 2D images and initiate NFC transmission, making it possible for retailers, brands and device manufacturers to rethink mobile commerce. mobeam is solving a significant problem for consumers, brands, retailers and every other player along the retail value chain. The potential for mobeam's light based communications technology - from mobile couponing to ticketing to mobile content - promises to be a tremendous industry game changer."