Cardfree’s Mobile Vets Launch Mobile Merchant Platform (Dec. 10, 2012)
Dec. 10, 2012
San Francisco-based startup Cardfree has launched a white-label mobile platform providing merchants with the ability to implement personalized offers and promotions, mobile payments, loyalty programs, social media engagement and data analytics, among other capabilities designed to drive incremental visits, larger ticket size and greater consumer engagement.
The goal of Cardfree is to ensure merchants “remain at the center of their customer relationships, rather than being secondary in third-party mobile apps or wallets,” said CEO Jon Squire. “We have a fundamental belief that the merchant is the most important piece of the omni-channel ecosystem, and Cardfree built its platform around that belief.”
Executives of the company, which closed $10 million in Series A funding last month, include veterans of Dunkin’ Donuts’ and Starbucks’ mobile programs. Squire worked on both programs as chief marketing officer at CorFire and senior vice president of payments at mFoundry. Chuck Davidson, head of product, served as category manager/innovation at Starbucks, and Sen Wen, head of architecture, was principal architect and engineer at Starbucks. Rounding out the Cardfree team are Jeffrey Katz, investor and chairman; Dustin Young, president; and Diane Hong, head of marketing.
“These guys are pros from across the industry who have a clear vision on how the future of mobile commerce will evolve, and their goal is clearly to ‘skate where the puck is going,’” Todd Ablowitz, president of Double Diamond Group, tells Paybefore. “They have a very strong set of capabilities and [Katz’s portfolio of companies] that puts them in a great position to succeed.”
