mPowa Strikes Deal with Portugal Telecom (Feb. 5, 2013)
Feb. 5, 2013
U.K.-based mobile payments provider mPowa has inked a white-label deal with Portugal Telecom Group that will enable the carrier to offer small businesses a card reader-based mobile payments service. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but TechCrunch reports it was a multimillion-dollar pact with a seven-year term.
The partnership opens mPowa’s technology to Portugal Telecom’s 100 million users across Europe, Latin American and Africa. mPowa has been in expansion mode, revealing plans to enter new markets around the world, including the U.S., where mobile payments pioneer Square remains the dominant player. A bevy of other startups have recently entered the market as well, increasing competitive pressure in the still evolving space, and for mPowa, striking a long-term deal with a large, established partner like Portugal Telecom is likely to give the firm a leg up. The company, which bills itself as a “Square for corporations” signed a deal in October with South African National Bank to provide its white-label mobile payment service to the bank’s merchant customers. But Square, which so far is only offered in the U.S., struck a corporate partnership coup of its own in August, with a milestone processing and investment deal with Starbucks.
