Children's e-wallet Virtual Piggy raises $ 8.5m in private fundings

By Raphael Michilis

US-based financial platform for children Virtual Piggy has pooled $8.5m with the selling of its stocks in few private funding rounds early last April and May.

The last transaction was registered at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on May 13 and the amount was confirmed by a Virtual Piggy spokesperson.

According to the notice filed at SEC, the capital comes from different investors including Fiordaliso LTD and FEQ Realty.

In the contracts signed with Virtual Piggy, the new shareholders acquired opening tranches of common stocks and agreed to buy future lots in monthly closings until November this year.

The company refused to say how the funding will change the company operations.

One of the SEC document reports that more than 70 investors took part in the funding rounds and each buyer purchased initial aggregates of around 150,000 common stock units.

Each unit was composed of two shares of Virtual Piggy’s common stock and a warrant to buy an extra share.

The units’ value ranged from $ 0.6125 to $0.80 and the shares were worth between £0.40 and $1.

The company refused to comment the matter, at least until next week.

Earlier this year, Virtual Piggy’s CEO and founder Jo Webber hailed the platform as the first payment system to allow children under 13 years of age make legal online purchases, with parents dictating the limits. 

Barclaycard says PayTag experiences a phenomenal success

By Raphael Michilis
The volume of Barclaycard NFC sticker cards PayTag issued is increasing and the company is optimistic about the customer’s adoption of the technology.
“The take up of the PayTag has been phenomenally successful. I can’t tell the exact number yet, but we are pretty please with the results,” said Tom Gregory, Head of Digital payments at Barclaycard during a webinar on 31 May.


Tom Gregory said yet that the volume of point of sales (POS) compatible with NFC technology in the United Kingdom will soar 50% in 2012, predicts Barclaycard.


“There are 100,000 [NFC enabled] payment terminals in the UK today. And this number will reach 150,000 till the end of the year,” said the Barclaycard executive.


On the other had, a research by technology advisory company Gartner foresees that while global mobile payment in general should soar by 62% in 2012, the volume of NFC transactions will remain rather low until 2015, with substantial growth beginning only in 2016.


“There are so many predictions, some pretty different,” but for now NFC “level is beginning to rise and we are pretty happy”, said Gregory about Gartner findings.


He believes the spread of the NFC technology in the UK will be boosted by adoption of major players like Transport for London (TfL). He expects the public transport and other large initiatives will encourage usage, and improve awareness of the technology.


“We are getting balance of adoption and awareness. This is moving in the right direction. NFC is the future. We are investing in it because we believe, we have confidence in the technology,” said the Barclaycard executive.


Asked if Barclaycard plans to invest in mobile payment alternatives to NFC, he said the company “will continue monitoring” other technologies and change strategy if necessary. 


The finance and technology industries’ confidence in the Near Field Communication payments was corroborated earlier this week, when executives from MasterCard, Sony, Intel among others stood up for the technology during the Smart Card Alliance’s NFC Solutions Summit 2012.


The group said NFC will improve the shopper experience at the POS and in on a daily basis interactions.


NFC is “getting well along the way to mass market adoption,” said James Anderson, MasterCard’s senior vice president of Mobile and Emerging Payments.


Security 
Tom Gregory also contradicted concerns about security and said the technology is safe.


He didn’t reveal the number of fraudsters attacks to Barclaycard NFC products, but said the card registered a “very small volume of fraud transactions related to the PayTag.”


Frauds generally occur in small transactions and are linked to merchants’ inappropriate identification of the purchaser.


The Barclaycard executive reassured that the customers will be reimbursed of any undue purchase, and those merchants who decide not to do full verification of customer data might be held liable.


Availability
Despite the incipient release NFC fitted mobile devices, Barclaycard is still optimistic about the Near Field Communication payments.

According to Tom Gregory, the contactless sticker card, PayTag is a bridge to the technology till when NFC fitted devices are more commonly available.

“We don’t know when every android mobile or iPhone will have NFC. until that happens we’ll use the tags.”

Etihad Airways offers free night in Abu Dhabi 5-star hotels

Etihad Airways offered two nights at Yas Hotel, plus
limousine transfers to first class passengers in 2011

By Raphael Michilis

United Arab Emirates-based Etihad Airways is offering one free hotel night to passengers in a layover of minimum two nights in Abu Dhabi before 1 December.

Etihad passengers can choose from a list of 25 hotels rated three to five stars  in the UAE capital, but have to be on a trip that goes beyond Abu Dhabi. 

“This offer is intended to encourage people to make time to get off the aircraft at Abu Dhabi and explore the emirate – be that with a visit to the Arabian desert, a trip to one of the world’s largest mosques, a tour of the attractions on Yas Island or by sampling the emirate’s world class hotels and restaurant," said Peter Baumgartner, Etihad Airways Chief Commercial Officer.

Extra stay at the Abu Dhabi hotels selection can also be booked with a discounts.

Rooms in a four or five star hotel can be booked from $59 in the offer, while a three-star accommodations are offered for a starting price of $45.  

The program also grants 'bargains' such as two-for-one deals at Ferrari World, Saadiyat Beach Golf Club, Abu Dhabi Golf Club, Yas Links and Monte Carlo Beach Club, safaris or tours with Desert Safari and Abu Dhabi City Tour.

The Essential Stopover program offer is available to all Etihad Airways guests, as well to passengers travelling on Etihad Airways-marketed flights.
The offer, is part of the Essential Abu Dhabi program that, in 2011, rewarded two and three free nights at the Qasr Al Sarab and Yas Hotel to customers in first and business classes.

Stagecoach trials Everything Everywhere NFC bus tickets in the UK

By Raphael Michilis
Stagecoach, one of the UK’s largest bus and rail operators, and mobile operator Everything Everywhere have teamed up to launch an NFC payments initiative in Cambridgeshire.

The project is still on trial, but it is said to be “the UK’s first government-standard commercial deployment of mobile contactless transport ticketing,” according to Everything Everywhere.

The new service is being tested by a small group of passengers that can receive, store and authenticate their bus ticket via NFC enabled mobile devices, which are built-in with an app designed for the pre-existing local bus network’s smart card readers.

The trial participants are using handsets featuring the Orange and Barclaycard Quick Tap, supplied by Everything Everywhere.

The trial takes place on Cambridgeshire bus routes, including the Cambridge Park & Ride and Guided Busway, and might be extended nationwide in 2013, depending on the success of the experiment.

"Once this trial is complete, we will carry out a review of the findings and assess the potential to expand the scheme further for our passengers,"said Martin Griffiths, Stagecoach finance director.

Stagecoach has a fleet of 7,700 buses that serves about 2.5 million passengers every day, and, according to Everything Everywhere, the joint initiative will help meeting government Government’s requirement to have most of public transport journeys using smart ticketing by December 2014.

Tata Docomo launches Twitter mobile top up in India

By Raphael Michilis
More and more businesses around the globe are focusing on the social networking generation and launching initiatives dedicated to that segment – and the convergence with payments is accelerating.

The latest to do so was Indian mobile service provider Tata Docomo, which is rolling out Twittcom, an alternative service that permits its GSM prepaid customers to register their phone number and top up their accounts through the social network Twitter.

"With the increasing consumption of internet and the rise of social media, it makes ample sense to be present on the medium where people are spending time at present or they are likely to spend time in the future," said  Ritesh Ghosal, head of brand marketing at Tata Teleservices.

To register their account, customers have to post a tweet to @tatadocomo typing their mobile number preceded by the hashtag #reg (#reg 000000000).

Tata then sends a verification pin code via SMS that should be tweeted again at the handle @tatadocomo after the hashtag #code (#code 0000000000). The @tatadocomo handle will post back this tweet confirming the registration.

To activate a value-added service via Twitter, the subscriber needs to again type the @tatadocomo handle and the following #act# service value. The confirmation of the successful top up will also come in the form of a tweet.

Although these steps mean that customers’ personal data will be posted in the public environment of a social network, such as their mobile number, Tata Docomo is optimistic about the initiative."Our community on Facebook is amongst the strongest in the world and Twitter too will reach the same levels quite soon,” pondered Ghosal.

Barclaycard terminates its loyalty programme Freedom

By Raphael Michilis

Barclaycard has announced it is ceasing the offer of rewards through its Freedom loyalty scheme. And customers have until 26 July to redeem the rewards accumulated in the programme.

Although available to "over eight million cardholders", Freedom was being used by just over a million customers.

The unpopularity of the programme, the third biggest in the UK at launch two years ago, is attributed to limitations imposed to earning and redemption of rewards. 

The points were only granted for spending in selected stores and could only be redeemed at an even more reduced range of retailers.

The expenditure-rewards ratio in the Freedom scheme were also smaller than the offered by other programmes.

Barclaycard Freedom customers were rewarded 1%, and even less, of their spend in most of the for most of partners outlets.

Capital One loyalty card offers 5% in the first rewards, going to 1.25% after the third month. Santander 321 card gives from 1.5% to 3% reward, although it charges an annual fee.

Barclaycard said it is designing two new loyalty schemes to be launched by the end of 2012.

"These will provide tailored and valuable offers from thousands of retailers and allow participating consumers to earn freedom rewards on all spend, both at home and abroad," a spokesman said.

The credit card operator did not release further details.

Redemption

Earnings in the Freedom programme will cease on 21 June. 

Most cardholders will have their remaining rewards automatically credited to their account. However, those who have not used their cards in the last six months and have less than £3 rewards balance need to contact Barclaycard to redeem their points.

Zynga, AmEx offer prepaid card with FarmVille rewards

By Raphael Michilis
Zynga social games and American Express (AmEx) have teamed up to offer a co-branded prepaid debit card that rewards consumers with virtual currency and goods on FarmVille when they make purchases with their AmEx.

FarmVille players can subscribe for the Zinga Serve Rewards programme and will receive a card in the mail. The prepaid card can be loaded with credit via a bank account, debit card, credit card or with cash.

The Farm Cash Rewards will be only offered for the first five purchases worth $25 or more. But the programme will continue to expand, AmEx and Zynga said, and all purchases will receive in-game rewards tracked through an in-game control panel.

The companies’ plan is to extend the virtual money rewards to other games, including CityVille and CastleVille.

The two companies have linked virtual and real currency before.

Two years ago, they offered in-game rewards via the AmEx Membership Rewards programme.

In 2010, Zynga started to sell prepaid FarmVille cards at 7-eleven stores.

A couple of years ago, AmEx commenced its social media appeal to young consumers, launching programmes based on Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare.