Venture Capital Flows into Payments Industry (Oct. 15, 2013)
Oct. 15, 2013
Several companies in the prepaid and emerging payments industry recently have received investor funding, including CardFlight, Carta Solutions Holding Corp., Gyft Inc., Leaf and Tabbedout.
CardFlight, a New York-based firm that enables developers to integrate in-person card payments into their own apps, has raised $1.6 million in seed-round funding, led by New York-based ff Venture Capital. Cardflight plans to use the capital to accelerate product development and expand its client base.
Carta Solutions has received $2 million in the form of common shares and warrants from Difference Capital Financial Inc. Oakville, Ontario-based Carta Solutions is a transaction processing and payments technology provider, specializing in prepaid, mobile and emerging payments.
Gyft, a San Francisco-based company that last year launched a digital gift card platform enabling consumers to upload, buy and redeem gift cards from their mobile devices, has received $5 million in Series A funding. Investors include A-Grade Investments, Social+Capital Partnership, Karlin Ventures, Haas Portman and David O. Sacks. Gyft will use the funding to continue development as well as scale the business to meet future demand for growth.
Leaf, Cambridge, Mass.-based creator of the LeafPresenter tablet specifically designed for commerce, has closed $20 million in its first round of institutional funding from Heartland Payment Systems. Leaf will use the funds to advance manufacturing capabilities of its proprietary tablet and expand its team of developers and employees. In addition to the investment, Heartland also has joined Leaf’s network of distribution partners and will be building an array of value-added apps on the Leaf platform, including payroll, and mobile and online ordering.
Tabbedout, an application enabling consumers to open, review and pay their tab from a mobile phone, has closed $7.75 million in an oversubscribed Series B financing round. Investors include Heartland Payment Systems, Morgan Creek Capital and New Enterprise Associates. Austin, Texas-based Tabbedout will use the funds to accelerate growth and market penetration.
