• payleven

  Participated · Series D · Feb 2016

  Payleven builds mobile point-of-sale hardware and accompanying transaction/accounting software that work with iOS and Android devices, targeting small retailers. It sells two hardware options (contactless and chip-and-pin) priced at £59 and £79 in the UK (equivalents elsewhere) and charges a flat 2.75% transaction fee that can fall to 1.5% with higher volumes (Amex stays at 2.75%). The company claims retailers recoup setup costs within six months. Payleven is live in 11 European markets plus Brazil and has pursued international expansion since its Rocket Internet incubation. Management says the business is already profitable in certain markets and expects to be profitable globally soon. The company has also become the POS provider for Adyen customers, and says new funding will go toward expansion into new products and accelerated customer acquisition. Payleven offers card-payment hardware and software that enables merchants to accept payments via iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch and Android devices. The company was founded in March 2012 and was launched by Rocket Internet. Founders include Rafael Otero, Alston Zecha, Dr. Alexander Zumdieck and Konstantin Wolff. Its solution is already available in Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Great Britain, Poland and Brazil. The company employs around 70 people. The article reports a recent investment that should support its continued market expansion and operations. Payleven is a Rocket Internet-backed payments company that sells smartphone dongles to enable merchants to accept card payments. The service is already active in Germany and Brazil and has partnerships with card networks including MasterCard, American Express and Eurocard in Germany and AmEx, Diners' Club, MasterCard and Visa in Brazil. Rocket Internet says the plan is to expand Payleven to key European and large emerging markets. Payleven can potentially leverage Rocket's portfolio companies—such as FoodPanda and Wimdu—as immediate distribution channels for its dongles. TechCrunch reports the company picked up "tens of millions" of euros in funding from New Enterprise Associates, Holtzbrinck Ventures and the Russian VC ru-net. Rocket Internet has been secretive about the funding and declined to provide further detail.

No current team members are available.