PayPal just announced that it has acquired card.io, a company that allows developers to capture credit card information by using a smartphone’s built-in camera. The financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed. As we reported earlier this year, PayPal’s PayPal Here feature is already being powered by card.io’s service, so the two companies already had a close relationship before this acquisition. According to card.io, the company’s iOS and Android SDKs will continue to remain available for developers.
According to Hill Ferguson, PayPal’s VP of global product, he and his team were “simply blown away by the creativity and drive of [card.io’s] employees.” The Card.io team will join PayPal’s global product team in San Jose to help the company “create new experiences to make it even easier for consumers and merchants to use the PayPal digital wallet.” Besides PayPal, Card.io’s client include Uber, LevelUp, TaskRabbit, Lemon and 1-800-Contacts. Developers pay $0.15 for every card they scan.
The company was founded by former AdMob employees Mike Mattler and Josh Bleecher Snyder. According to its website, the company currently has six employees (including the founders).
Card.io raised a $1 million funding round in 2011 but hasn’t taken any funding since. Some of the company’s competitors, including Jumio, for example, have taken far larger funding rounds over the last year or so.