Payleven, the mobile payment solutions provider that was incubated by Germany’s Rocket Internet, today announced at the Apps World conference in London that it is first to market with a ‘Chip & PIN’ solution for mobile payments in Europe.
Basically, this makes Payleven’s mobile payments product about as secure as a traditional card terminal. It’s a pretty big deal.
The fact that the startup is the first pan-European mobile payments company with ‘Chip & Pin’-powered mobile point of sale functionality, and is thus fully compliant with the standards of all major debit & credit cards – including Visa and Mastercard – is particularly bad news for rival iZettle.
You may remember that iZettle has run into some disputes with Visa Europe about card payments in several Nordic countries, which to date have not been resolved.
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It’s also another advance Payleven has got with regards to Jack Dorsey’s Square, which has yet to make the jump over to Europe from the United States.
Like Square or iZettle, Payleven turns an Android or iOS smartphone or tablet into a card terminal, enabling small businesses and mobile service providers to accept card payments just about anywhere, anytime.
But in Europe, Visa notably only allows mobile payments with ‘Chip & PIN’ authorization. Payleven’s solution works through a small, secure device (pictured above) that links to a smartphone or tablet over Bluetooth, giving customers the ability to enter their PIN code via the mobile device’s keypad.
The solution will be offered in all Payleven international markets, including UK, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Poland and Brazil. The company says online registrations for its ‘Chip & PIN’ solution will be accepted from 15 October.
Pricing will be based on usage with a (unrevealed) “small transaction fee”, with no minimum sales quota or monthly fees. Payleven also just debuted a payments API.
The company recently landed a “double-digit million euro” funding round from several global VC firms, including New Enterprise Associates, Holtzbrinck Ventures and ru-Net. Payleven says it employs around 70 people in Germany, the UK and other international markets.
Its incubator, Rocket Internet, is also cloning PayPal rival Stripe with ‘Paymill’.
Also read:
Heads up, iZettle: the Samwer brothers’ Square clone Payleven expands to UK, Brazil and more
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