BeatsMe wants to connect DJ's and party goers through mobile application

By Raphael Michilis

Social networking is quickly contaminating all segments of the current economy. More and more, success means popularity in the crammed cyber communities, and absence in those digital social spaces virtually means your product doesn’t exist, thus it doesn’t sell.

The music industry was one of the first to realize the social trend and sound waves flooded the now almost forgotten MySpace, with a countless number of artists setting up profiles and collecting followers.

Since then, singers and musicians have fought for a space in the internaut’s computer screen, but very few platforms dedicated to music have thrived and most of them left out a growing segment of music, the DJ’s.

Spotify has recently adapted its services to feature on Facebook updates, but it is still not dedicated to link the artists to their audience.

To build a bridge over this gap, the San Francisco-based startup BeatsMe Inc has initiated a Beta trial of its music social network mobile and web application.

The company aims to help DJ's promote their work and drive their audience up. On the other side of that bridge, BeatsMe promises to present new music to listeners bored of the sound they are used to.

The app lets DJs interact with their online audience as well as live and immediate connection with party goers at the club where they are palying.

Similar to Shazam app, BeatsMe identifies a song while it is being played and allows the audience to instantly buy the tune.

To raise capital and finance their idea, BeatsMe co-founder Joseph Brilliant is offering a batch of the company’s securities worth $1m for sales.

The “private offering” form was file today with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), but did not have any buyer. The form is generally filed when the funding is concluded.

GlobalCollect partners with BOKU to offer mobile payment solution

By Raphael Michilis

Online payment service provider GlobalCollect has integrated technology from mobile payments firm BOKU to its international payment network, and will make mobile phone checkout available to its web merchants.

The new partnership will allow mobile payments as a mainstream payment vehicle and will give GlobalCollect merchants access to 4 bn potential new customers from BOKU’s mobile payment network of over 260 telcos in 67 countries.

“It [BOKU] was clearly the best option for our merchants, who now through the partnership can substantially increase checkout conversion, reduce cost and accelerate time to market of mobile payments, “ said John Snoek, GlobalCollect VP marketing, about the selection of BOKU as the company’s global partner for mobile payments.

BOKU's m-payments service will permit GlobalCollect's customers to shop online using their mobile number via SMS, and have purchases charged on their phone bill.

GlobalCollect renders BOKU's platform to help merchants complete backend work, such as foreign exchange, granular price points, multiple currencies and languages.

"Our merchant partners typically see significant, immediate increases in their market reach and checkout conversion, and we expect the same for GlobalCollect merchants," said James Patmore, BOKU senior vice-president.

The partnership leverages BOKU's pricing and transaction solutions built by experienced players including Amazon, Google, PayPal, Yahoo, Visa, BarclayCard, Bank of America, and AT&T.

BofA Merril releases iPad e-payments and e-invoicing app

By Raphael Michilis
Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BofA ML) has launched an iPad app version of Paymode-X, the bank’s online payments and electronic invoicing solution powered by Bottomline Technologies.


The portable platform gives treasurers real-time access to critical corporate payments information, and mobility, allowing them to take actions to ensure that payment and settlement cycles continue to flow wherever they go.


“It’s an incredibly powerful tool, allowing businesses to remotely connect to their payments and invoicing system, and as a result, have better control, efficiency and predictability of their cash flow,” said Kevin Phalen, head of card and comprehensive payables at BofA ML.


Paymode-X connects users to a private network of over 185,000 suppliers that accept e-payments and send e-invoices, as well as supports paper cheque print services through single file integration.


In 2011, BofA ML clients processed over 88 millions of transactions worth more than $ 125bn through Paymode-X. 

iZettle raises $31.4m to fuel its global expansion

By Raphael Michilis
Social payments company iZettle has raised $31.4 million to pave its expansions plan.

The capital was acquired in two funding rounds (Series A and B) and will help the Stockholm-based company to break the Nordic frontiers across Europe and other markets where chip-cards are the standard, said Jacob de Geer, iZettle CEO. 


The company uses a mini chip-card reader and app to convert an iPhone or iPad into a credit card terminal and has initiated tests for commercial release in the UK.


iZettle funders list includes Greylock Partners, Northzone, SEB Private Equity, Index Ventures, Creandum and MasterCard. 


The iZettle British trial program doesn't accept payments with cards from Visa, which is an investor of similar product, Square, in the US.  

“iZettle is the first and only company to develop an affordable chip-card reader and app for smartphone-based mobile commerce that meets all of the rigorous international security requirements,” said Laurel Bowden, Greylock’s partner in London who is joining iZettle’s board of directors.

Aimed at small business entrepreneurs and self employed professionals, iZettle says its chip and signature product has contributed to increase by 10% the volume of points of sale (POS) in the Nordic countries where it operates:  Sweden since August 2011; Finland and Norway from February this year.

“There are currently about 20 million small businesses in Europe that only take cash or invoices, according to Eurostat. That’s a huge opportunity that only iZettle can address right now,” said Ben Holmes partner at Index Venture.

iZettle charges no monthly subscription, but collects a 2.75% to 3.75% fee per transaction made in Sweden. iZettle is PCI-DSS compliant and approved by Europay, MasterCard and VISA. It doesn’t store sensitive data on the device and information transfer is encrypted.


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Credit cards direct mail stumbled 33% in the US last April, says Mintel

By Raphael Michilis
The volume of credit cards offered by post in the US has fallen 33% in April, according to data from market researcher Mintel.

American households received 260 million offers for new credit cards last April, 130 million lower the amount put forward in the same month of 2011, and the lowest estimated monthly mail volume tracked in the past 25 months.

“April marks a new low for the credit card direct mail decline that began in December 2011,” says Andrew Davidson, senior vice president at Mintel Comperemedia.

He predicted the annual volume of credit cards directly mailed in the US will also take a plunge.

“Credit card direct mail volume will be significantly lower in 2012 than 2011,” he said without risking an exact figure.

Despite the numbers, Davison has a somewhat optimistic position and said the downturn is not a sign of a long term trend, just a “temporary hiatus” in the activity, and other advertising modalities are supporting this “traditional channel”, rather than replacing it.

The fall is result of a “more cautious approach” adopted by the issuers due to an uncertain economic atmosphere, said Davison.

He explained that credit card direct mail is cyclical, and it will return to its normal volume levels along with the regain economic confidence in the US.

“For credit card issuers this is a great time to be in the mail. The mailbox is less cluttered and it is easier to get consumers to notice your message,” suggested Davison.

Atos acquires Dutch e-payments business Quality Equipment

By Raphael Michilis
France-headquartered IT services company Atos has incorporated its Dutch partner, the electronic payments firm Quality Equipment.

The acquisition is part of Atos global expansion strategy, and the firm expects to become leader in end-to-end coverage of terminals and merchants services in the Netherlands.

“Atos acquires a company in its core business located in the Benelux where the Group is already working with large customers, and has a leading market position. We will be able to offer value added services with an enriched payment services portfolio to our customers in the Benelux and across Europe,” said Marc-Henri Desportes, Atos executive vice president of Hi-Tech Transactional Services (HTTS).

The deal adds payment systems expertise to Atos portfolio in areas such as identification, access management and is an all-in-one supplier of PIN terminals for various applications.

Atos will merger Quality Equipment to its HTTS and electronic payments arm, and benefit from Quality Equipement's market share for terminal activity high growth rate, which increased by 20% from 2010 to 2011.

“This transaction is fully in line with the strategy of the group to grow its HTTS activities and to strengthen its international position in the payments area,” said Desportes.

The French company, which employs 74,000 employees in 48 countries, said the acquisition will help them build a European competence centre for value added services for merchants.

Giftango’s digital vouchers enter the European market

By Raphael Michilis
American digital gift card corporation Giftango has kicked off its European expansion plans with the opening of an office in Ireland and the partaking of its first ten partners in the UK.

This bigger step comes after about a year of “conversations with leading European merchants and the corporate programs that buy gift cards from them,” said Marcell King, vice-president of Merchant and International Development for Giftango.

Giftango will supply its partners’ customers with digital coupons issued nearly instantly,that will replace the currently printed gift cards and coupons that take days to be issues and received by post.

“We love that our program participants will now be able to receive their vouchers by email or SMS to their PC’s and smart phones,” says Kevin Lake, CEO of Countdown a loyalty program firm operated by MB Solutions (Holdings) Limited, and one of Giftango first partners in the UK.


“We’ve been a long- time proponent of delivering digital vouchers in our programs. It’s great for the consumer, it’s great for the merchant, and it’s great for us. We’re excited that our partnership with Giftango will enable us to expand our portfolio of digital vouchers,” said  Jonathan Grey, CEO of Ovation Incentives, another Giftango UK partner. 

The first lots of digital cards will be aimed to the corporate segment, which accounted for 52% of the total vouchers sales in the UK in 2011, according to Giftango.

“We learned a few things taking this thoughtful approach. The UK B2B gift card market is poised to yield a very high return for those corporations and merchants launching digital gift cards. The opportunities for digital gifting developing in both the mobile and social markets cannot be denied. Today we’re introducing a corporate eGift product that fits the UK market,” said King.

Giftango’s digital coupon B2B Channel Program will initially include Marriott, Hotel Voucher Shop, Theatre Tokens, Travelocity Gift Cards and SpaFinder.

Reserve Bank of Australia to stop credit card surcharges

By Raphael Michilis
The era of abusive credit cards fees in Australian retailers might soon come to an end, as the Reserve Bank of Australia announced today that merchants will be forbidden to profit from credit card fees.

The new rules set by RBA’s Payment System Board determines that , from 1st January 2013, Australian retailers will be allowed to only charge customers fees enough to cover their expenses with the card transaction.

"The bank believes that there is sufficient evidence to suggest that such practices [credit card surcharges] are now relatively widespread and that the use of the freedoms provided to merchants by the (previous) surcharging reforms is (sic) no longer entirely in line with the original intent of the reforms," said RBA in an official statement.

The new regulation will also allow card providers such as Visa and MasterCard to take action against businesses who charge excessive fees.

"The Bank intends that its variation will improve price signals by enabling a card scheme to address cases where merchants are clearly surcharging at a higher level than is justified for acceptance of its card products."

The Reserve Bank of Australia has also commenced a re-evaluation of the system governing EFTPOS (electronic debit card) transactions and said a new regulation might come into force by January 2014.


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Romania launches e-invoice pilot for VAT refunds

By Raphael Michilis

Romanian Ministry of Communications have teamed up with the Ministry of Finance and NAFA (the National Agency for Fiscal Administration) to launch an e-invoice pilot project that will allow businesses to file for VAT reimbursement via internet.

The new service will provide Romanian companies with online forms supposed to facilitate VAT recovery.

The system will allow real-time validation of each value completed in the forms, eliminating possible errors and excluding the Finance department from the process.

“A form with a validation of fields filled with a flowchart on the back can only be a sign of fairness. We want to eliminate things that annoys everyone, to eliminate the things that can be interpreted so, and so by officials” said Dan Nica, Romanian minister of communications.

The Romanian e-invoicing project will cost approximately € 3m to its financier, the EU, and will involve about 100.000 companies.

“We do not want a pilot project with 10 companies, but have 100,000 companies in the pilot. We want SMEs to be involved in this project. We hope to start this project immediately,” said Nica. 

Archives - Oberthur Technologies brings smart card technology to SocGen Romania sub BRD

By Raphael Michilis
26 April 2012
Oberthur Technologies has inked a deal with BRD, Société Générale’s subsidiary in Romania, to provide new payment technology for the bank’s card portfolio.

Oberthur will supply BRD with a multi-application dual interface payment card, which has built-in capabilities for transport, access control as well as contactless payment options, based on MasterCard’s PayPass.

The MultiPass Transport card is one of the products originated from this deal. Issued in collaboration with RATB and Metrorex - the transport operators of Bucharest - the transport card will allow commuters to simply wave their card in front of validators on buses, tram and metro.

“Such multi-application payment cards combining services used everyday, like usual payment and public transport access, or linked to their preferences, hobbies or lifestyle, enable us to strengthen our relationship with our existing customers, while attracting new ones,” said Ciprian Nicolae, projects director-cards department at BRD.

“We are now proposing to our customers packaged offerings targeting precise markets such as transport, universities, sport fans, corporate badges, or frequent flyer cards,” said Eric Duforest, managing director Europe at Oberthur Technologies.

Additionally, the two companies will bring out a football card called Supporter Card. This will be in co-operation with several Romanian League 1 football clubs and will grant access to stadiums, where turnstiles are fitted with contactless technology.

The Support Card can be personalised using a design from a gallery on the BRD website or by uploading a personal photo.

BRD customers can also make contactless payments using stickers attached to the back of their mobile phones.

Olympics and Queen’s Jubilee boost TestLink ATM parts sales by 15%

By Raphael Michilis
ATM supplier TestLink has reported that celebrations of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics have propelled a 15% increase in ATM parts sales in the past two months in the UK.

The UK and Czech Republic-based company said the Jubilee was responsible for “a significant rise in ATM transaction volumes” and that the Olympics will increase the UK’s demand for cash even further.

Financial service providers will make every effort “to ensure that high levels of ATM availability are maintained for both UK and international guests during this time,” said the ATM supplier.

“Such high levels of cash transactions will inevitably drive more maintenance calls and parts requirements,” said Greg Hughes, TestLink Managing Director.

TestLink says the volume of requests for ATM parts, such as configured currency cassettes, have went up 50% compared to the first semester of 2011; and it is preparing its stock to a continuous growth of demand.

“[TestLink] has worked closely with its field maintenance customers to ensure there will be sufficient inventory in place at the key Olympic sites to ensure levels of ATM availability are maintained,” said Hughes.

Reserve Bank of Australia to lead mobile payments

By Raphael Michilis

Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) will take the lead to speed up the architecture of Australian payments system towards mobile phone age.

Although "the notion that a regulator should be involved in matters of innovation might be seen as inconsistent with the regulatory philosophy in Australia," the bank will take "a stronger role" in modernising the country’s payments infrastructure, said Glenn Stevens, Reserve Bank of Australia Governor.

According to Stevens, Australia’s payments service is limited and has changed very little in the pas 30 years, despite technology evolution.

He said that the system is “a bit dated” and that "co-operative decision-making between competitors is notoriously difficult", thus RBA would "ensure any disconnect between the public interest and the business case is properly managed".

"Australians can make internet bank transactions relatively easy but we still have some way to go facilitating payments via mobile phones," said Chris Hamilton, chief executive of the Australian Payments Clearing Corporation.

Mr Hamilton said retail non-cash payments accounted for only 2% of total payments by value today, but consumers could look forward to real-time, person-to-person payments instead of waiting one or two days for their transactions to be fully processed, as they do now.

Union Bank of India, NCR Corporation launch talking ATM for visually impaired

By Raphael Michilis

The Union Bank of India and the manufacturer NCR Corporation launched the country’s first ATM for visually-impaired and other physically-challenged customers.

The cash dispenser, dubbed talking ATM, gives customers instructions through a headphone and is fitted with Braille keyboard.

The machine was installed at the campus of the Blind People’s Association and is accessible with wheelchair.

“This ATM will prove to be a milestone, “ said Shri D. Sarkar, Union Bank of India Chairman and Managing Director, during the ATM’s launch. 

The first talking ATM is also the bank’s 4,000^th ATM, and meets demands of a 2008/2009 Reserve Bank of India circular which determines the offer of ‘ATM for differently-abled’ customers.

The talking ATM will also support transactions using cards from other banks, informed UBI.

The state-owned bank informed it plans to install 5000 ATMs by end of March 2013, but did not specify how many will be dedicated to disabled people.

Despite its inclusive nature, the talking ATM has also inspired criticism in that country. The Indian newspaper Rupee Times raised concerns around the safety features of the new device.

“Currently there are security questions as the screens would not be blanked while in use, compromising the security of the user,” read the article published on July 7.

Vodafone and O2 join up to roll out 4G

Vodafone and Telefonica, controller of O2 in the UK, will share a network infrastructure to rollout the 4G technology in Britain.
The joint venture was announced yesterday and the telecoms will remain competitors and will not join wireless spectrum, share core network or customers data.

Alternative mobile wallets intimidate banks

By Raphael Michilis
Almost half of American consumers (48%) wish to use a mobile wallet and would consider alternative players for banking services, according to a study published on 4 June by financial researcher Carlisle & Gallagher Consulting Group (CG).

Peter Olynick, CG’s Card & Payments Practice leader, estimates that “within five years, half of today’s smart phone owners will be using their phones and mobile wallets as their preferred method for payments”, causing banks to loose market share in the future if they don’t act now.

“The competitive threat from new entrants is real. Consumers are open to considering alternatives to their primary banks to provide mobile wallets and even core banking services,” said Olynick.

“Banks need to proactively consider how their products will stay ‘top of wallet’ in the new mobile wallet world,” he said.

Among the mobile wallets enthusiastic consumers heard by the survey, 80% said they would choose PayPal as their m-wallet and primary bank alternative if it offered banking services.

Google would be the option for 60% of them. Other 60% of consumers interested in m-wallets would also consider using Apple as their banking services player and digital wallet, although the company does not offer such services.

Mobile wallets make an efficient way to trim down consumers’ credit card frustration with the volume of offers they receive, keeping track of payment due dates, and their inability to track terms and conditions for each of their cards, according to the study.

Minimizing interest payments, maximising loyalty programs and ability to make better payments were rated as the most valuable advantages of digital wallets services for 65% of consumers. Other consumers said they believe m-wallets make shopping easier, faster and more fun.

Combining these features in customized mobile wallets may help banks keeping customers satisfied and reducing market share loss, concludes the survey that heard 605 American consumers in April.

First Data provides prepaid payroll solution for Sentric

By Raphael Michilis
Payment processor First Data has developed a new prepaid payroll solution in partnership with US software and payroll services company Sentric.

The BRIO Card aims to reduce the volume of paper pay checks and statements issued to the 200,000 people employed by Sentric’s payroll clients.

“In addition to our traditional direct deposit service, our clients can offer their employees, those with and without bank accounts, immediate access to funds on pay day without a fee and with the added convenience of accessing their cash at thousands of locations nationwide using their BRIO Card,” said Mike Maggs, CEO at Sentric.

The prepaid BRIO cards will make workers’ funds available across the MasterCard networkincluding stores, online and over the phone.


“Users can manage their accounts with features such as checking their account balance online and by phone; receiving balance updates via text or email; and loading funds from various sources including a second job, child support and government benefits, " said Mark Putman, senior vice president, Prepaid Solutions, First Data.

"Our clients, especially those who share our vision for environmental sustainability, can now offer every employee a green option for receiving their wages on pay day,” completed Maggs.

Sentric supplies thousands of middle-market organisations across the US with cloud-based personnel management software. The platform includes payroll, human resources, and time and labour management solutions.

Fashion brand Hayward Luxury raises $1,5m

By Raphael Michilis

Los Angeles-based fashion brand Hayward Luxury Incorporated has raised nearly $1,5m in a private equity funding round registered at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) early this week.

According to notice filed at SEC, ten investors took part in the funding round of the brand created in 2007 by Marin Hopper, granddaughter of Hollywood agent and producer Leland Hayward.

The deal was co-signed by Hopper and Hayward Luxury’s CEO, John Goldstone, who might receive together $12,023 from the offering, according to SEC files.  

The document also shows that a total of $517,533 of the stock offering remained unsold.

Small business online community Manta.com estimates that Hayward Luxury has annual revenue of $200,000 and has two employees only.  

Hayward Luxury produces women’s handbag and accessories inspired in the lifestyle of Hopper’s grandfather.


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