Poynt, the payment terminal startup founded by former Google Wallet boss Osama Bedier, has raised $100 million in a Series C funding round joined by National Australia Bank and US Bancorp-owned Elavon.
Poynt has developed a "smart" payment terminal designed to take on established players such as Verifone and Ingenico, as well as newer entrants like Square, in the rapidly changing POS landscape.
The startup has shipped nearly 150,000 terminals in the last 16 months but its main strategy to win a major slice of the multi-trillion dollar global payments market is the promotion of its own operating system that can work on any smart payment terminal.
Poynt has set its sights on becoming the iOS or Android of POS operating systems and expects adoption on at least half of the world’s top payment terminal manufacturers in 2019.
The new funding will be used to invest in partner and product development to make this a reality, with a focus on making inroads in Asia, Europe and South America.
"Smartphones changed the way we search, buy and communicate - not only because the hardware was beautiful, but because iOS and Android transformed a ubiquitous utility into a platform for innovation where developers could build once and distribute everywhere," says Bedier.
"Our vision is to transform retail by becoming that innovation platform for payment terminals everywhere. We give developers a technical canvas to build the experiences merchants and their customers have come to expect - and ultimately, make visiting your local store the personal experience it was always meant to be."