SumUp, the latest start-up providing technology that turns mobile phones into card payment terminals has launched in the UK, Germany, Ireland and Austria after securing more than $20 million in funding.
According to TechCrunch, the series a round was joined by b-to-v Partners, Shortcut Ventures, Tengelmann Ventures and Klaus Hommels. Previously, the company was funded by its founders, including CEO Daniel Klein, who previously helped establish MoneyBookers.
SumUp offers merchants the same set up as Square, PayPal Here, Verifone, iZettle and mPowa - a free dongle and Android or iOS app, that enable users to accept card payments through their smartphones and tablets.
Having run a four-month closed beta in the four countries, it is now opening up in the UK, Germany, Ireland and Austria, taking a 2.75% cut of transactions made with Visa and MasterCard cards.
The system is PCI-DSS certified, with MasterCard payments authenticated by customers signing the phone screen. Visa customers get sent a text message with a secure link, which they have to access on their devices to manually enter their full card numbers.
According to TechCrunch, this convoluted process is to avoid the problems that hit iZettle recently, which was forced to stop accepting Visa in Denmark, Finland and Norway.