LoopPay, Inc., the inventor of MST technology, informed that it has received an investment from Visa Inc. The investment is part of a wider strategic funding round for LoopPay, announced earlier this month, including Synchrony Financial (formerly GE Capital Retail Finance) and other strategic partners not yet named.
LoopPay invented Magnetic Secure Transmission™ (MST) technology which leverages existing point-of-sale infrastructure to receive contactless payments from mobile devices of all kinds with no hardware changes required by merchants. MST aims to reduce reliance on magnetic stripes to store and transmit cardholder data, and instead uses a secure chip to store and transmit data to existing POS terminals via a small low-cost inductive loop that could be embedded in a variety of devices, including smartphones.
“Visa continually evaluates and invests in new technologies that have the potential to transform mobile devices into secure payment vehicles,” said Jim McCarthy, senior vice president of innovation and strategic partnerships, Visa Inc.
“LoopPay has developed compelling technology that has the potential to enable merchants to accept payments from mobile devices using their existing point-of-sale infrastructure.”
“We are thrilled to have Visa as a partner and investor,” said Will Graylin, CEO of LoopPay.
“We look forward to working with them and our other partners, including card issuers and device OEMs, to deliver the best possible commerce experience for both consumers and merchants alike as the world moves toward mobile payments.”
LoopPay recently announced the availability of its latest consumer product, the LoopPay ChargeCase, which enables mobile payments through a protective iPhone 5 and 5s case that also extends the iPhone’s battery life by up to 60 percent. The mobile payments company currently has two available products on the market, with many more devices — including those manufactured by various OEMs — anticipated within the upcoming months to offer device options for consumers.
The terms of the investment were not made available.
