Industry News
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Tuesday, September 7, 2010 Equity Bank's M-Kesho mobile banking service has so far attracted 6,000 customers with deposits worth Sh900m. The unique service which was launched in May in partnership with Safaricom enables individuals to withdraw money from their bank accounts via their mobile phone handsets.
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Tuesday, September 7, 2010 MONTREAL - This February, one of Canada’s big banks was the first Canadian financial institution to introduce a mobile banking application, available for download directly from their website or from the Apple App Store. Other Canadian financial institutions will likely follow suit.
While such technological innovations undoubtedly introduce greater flexibility for Canadians in their banking transactions, increased ease of access to one’s bank account also brings about a greater risk of fraud.
Specifically, one of the underlying benefits of smartphone applications is that any programmer can create, develop, and then publish their application. But while this open conception process has allowed for the creation of useful applications, it has also brought about opportunities for any developer to create fictitious, malicious programs which target and acquire individual user’s sensitive banking information. |
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Tuesday, September 7, 2010 BAMpay structured the sign-up process to be fast, simple, and secure. Customers signing up for BAMpay can earn rewards on future visits to restaurants and retailers using the BAMpay system. "We wanted to find a way to reduce the high cost of credit card processing fees, thereby helping merchants become more profitable," according to Thom Aldredge, SVP of Sales for BAMpay. "At the same time, we wanted to provide merchants with a valuable and simple way to offer loyalty rewards to their customers. BAMpay provides both. Merchants can save money on processing fees, while increasing their foot traffic at the same time." With today's launch, BAMpay now offers its phone-based payment system to restaurants and retailers nationwide. About BAMpay BAMpay provides a secure, turnkey solution for accepting phone-based payments at the point of sale. Unlike other peer-to-peer mobile payment systems, BAMpay is merchant-centric, and focused specifically on meeting the needs of restaurants and retailers. The solution is easy to set up, and includes all of the equipment and training required to start receiving phone-based payments today. BAMpay also provides merchants with a variety of ways to increase foot traffic through incentive and reward programs. BAMpay is a privately funded company based in Dallas, Texas. For more information, please visit http://www.BAMpay.com/, or contact Thom Aldredge at 888.745.4112. About Shuck N' Jive Shuck N' Jive is a family owned Cajun restaurant and bar serving oysters, seafood, crawfish, and a variety of Cajun specialties. Shuck N' Jive is owned and operated by John and Diane Kranz, and has locations in Dallas and Richardson. About Highlands Cafe Highlands Cafe is a family friendly, neighborhood restaurant serving New American casual food in the Lake Highlands area of Dallas, Texas. The cafe is locally owned and operated. The managing partners are Lake Highlands residents Kathy Stewart and Anita Siegers. Investing partners include 20 Lake Highlands families. Highlands Cafe was established to fulfill our community's desire to have this type of restaurant in the area, and to aid in the ongoing revitalization of retail in this section of Dallas. |
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Tuesday, September 7, 2010 Tyfone will use the capital to accelerate production of SideTapTM MicroSD memory cards for mobile contactless transactions and scale its software centric business including mobile banking, couponing and loyalty solutions. Over the next two to three years, analysts forecast contactless payment transactions via MicroSD technology will be used by more than 20 million people in North America alone, at thousands of contactless payment terminals already in place.
“Tyfone was founded in 2004 with the belief that ’mobility’ will create profound changes in the way people everywhere engage in commerce,” said Tom Spitzer, CEO of Tyfone. “Now that our core technology has been developed, patented and is in production, this new funding allows Tyfone the ability to bring our solutions to new markets and build a broader ecosystem. The investors who participated in our Series B financing round bring unique expertise within financial services and we’ll benefit from their knowledge beyond the value of their financial investment in Tyfone.”
“The market for mobile financial services is nascent but significant. HDFC Holdings was impressed with the team, the technology, and patents that Tyfone possesses and we recognize that Tyfone is in a unique position to leverage a global market opportunity,” said V Srinivasa Rangan, director of HDFC Holdings, Ltd.
“Polaris Software Lab's investment in Tyfone is in line with our vision of global leadership in the financial transaction space. Our most comprehensive suite of Intellect products and Tyfone’s groundbreaking innovation in the mobile payments industry will prove to be a potent combination when packaged to deliver greater efficiency and higher value to our customers,” said Arun Jain, founder, chairman & CEO, Polaris Software Lab, Ltd.
“Ojas Venture Partners continued participation in this series B round of financing is a testament to its belief in the team, the business opportunity and the milestones the company has achieved. We have been impressed with the company’s prudence, determination and its critical accomplishments in building a unique and global product line, patents and partnerships. Our continued participation will assist Tyfone in building a strong international team, attract quality technology partners and secure significant commercial wins,” said Rajesh Srivathsa, managing partner of Ojas Venture Partners.
Over the past 12 months, Tyfone has achieved major industry milestones, including:
- Adding a US patent for “Electronic Transaction Cards” to Tyfone’s patent portfolio, which was filed February 22, 2005 and issued September 1, 2009 - Partnering with First Data to bring Tyfone’s SideTapTM MicroSD based contactless payment solution to market - Launching of mobile banking & signing new financial institutions as mobile banking customers Obtaining industry recognition as a pioneer and leading innovator in the mobile transaction (NFC) and mobile banking arena
About Tyfone – www.tyfone.com
Tyfone connects money and mobility via a highly secure, scalable and flexible mobile financial services solution tailored to meet the evolving needs of consumers, financial institutions, mobile network operators, transportation companies and retailers. Tyfone’s u4ia® platform and its companion SideTapTM memory card is the world's first patented, neutral and comprehensive memory card-based payments solution for mobile contactless payments. Tyfone and its partners enable a suite of services including Mobile Banking, Mobile Identity Management, Mobile Remote Payments, Mobile Retail Services and Mobile Contactless / NFC Payments.
About HDFC Holdings, Ltd. - www.hdfc.com
HDFC Holdings is a wholly owned subsidiary of Housing Development Finance Corporation Limited (HDFC). HDFC's distribution network spans 279 outlets, which include 65 offices of the wholly owned distribution company, HDFC Sales Private Limited (HSPL). Besides HDFC Holdings, HDFC’s subsidiaries include HDFC Realty Limited, HDFC Property Ventures Limited, HDFC Sales Private Limited, HDFC Venture Capital Limited, HDFC Ergo General Insurance Company Limited, HDFC Standard Life Insurance Company Limited, GRUH Finance Limited and HDFC Asset Management Company Limited.
About Polaris Software Lab – www.polarisFT.com
Polaris Software Lab (POLS.BO) is a leading Financial Technology company, with its comprehensive portfolio of products, services and consulting. Polaris has a talent strength of over 9,000 solution architects and domain and technology experts. The company owns the largest set of Intellectual Properties in the form of a comprehensive product suite, IntellectTM Global Universal Banking (GUB) 10.0. IntellectTM is the first pure play SOA based application suite for Retail, Corporate, Investment banking and Insurance. Polaris is headquartered in Chennai and has offices in all global financial hubs including Tokyo, Sydney, Hong Kong, Singapore, India, Dubai, Bahrain, Riyadh, London, Belfast, Zurich, Frankfurt, Toronto, New York, Chicago, Fremont, Pittsburgh and Chile.
About Ojas Venture Partners – www.ojasventures.com
Ojas is an India centric, technology focused early stage VC firm backed by one of the early captains of Indian IT industry, Mr. Nadathur S. Raghavan, co-founder and former MD of Infosys. The first fund is a US $35 million fund. |
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Tuesday, September 7, 2010 SEATTLE - For the world's poorest, cellphone technology carries opportunity, aid groups say, as text messages and other mobile applications have created a new platform to reach the most remote farms and crowded urban slums of Africa, Asia and Latin America. The Grameen Foundation, a Washington-based group known for helping women with the smallest of business loans, has two dozen people in a technology lab here developing mobile Internet applications to help spread its microfinance model. It's warning farmers in Uganda about banana crop rot through text messages and collecting data on spreadsheet applications on smartphones. |
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