The mobile payments landgrab is on in Europe. Today, iZettle announced that it is now open for business in Spain, taking its total number of markets to seven. The company, which has received $46.7 million in backing from companies and VCs that include MasterCard and American Express, is now able to take mobile payments by way of a dongle attached to an iOS or Android device in Spain, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, the United Kingdom and Germany.
The move comes as other European players like Payleven, SumUp and Mpowa continue to build up their businesses in the region, before large U.S.-based competitors like Square and PayPal’s Here enter the market. Intuit is the sole U.S. player that has made a definitive move to Europe with a mobile-payments-by-way-of-dongle system. Most recently, it launched its service in the UK at the end of November.
Square made its first international move earlier this year, to Canada. The company has not said where it will go next, but it has a deal to provide mobile payments to the coffee giant Starbucks, which could be a sign of how it will proceed with its global expansion. We have also heard murmurs — unconfirmed by Square — that Asia is likely to be Square’s next target international market.
Like Square and others in this space, iZettle focuses on providing small businesses and sole traders the ability to accept credit card payments using a small piece of hardware that attaches to their mobile handset. The idea is to target those who haven’t been able to accept credit card payments up to now because they are too small and so the costs of doing so don’t add up. iZettle offers them a flat rate of 2.75% commission on every transaction across all major credit cards with a free phone hardware attachment.
Up to now, iZettle has been making slow steps into markets beyond its home market of Sweden, running services first as pilots before full-fledged commercial rollouts. The move to Spain is a sign that its strategy is accelerating, possibly in response to the competitive threat from others. It will be available to all small business owners and individuals from today.
Full release below.
iZettle Now Available to Small Business Owners and Individuals in Spain
Europe’s First Chip Card Reader and Mobile Payments App Turns Smartphones and Tablets Into Affordable Credit Card Terminals
STOCKHOLM & MADRID – December 13, 2012; iZettle, the social payments company making credit card acceptance possible for small business owners and individuals at a fraction of the cost of traditional point of sale (POS) systems, today accelerated its European expansion, introducing the service in Spain.
With iZettle there’s no subscription, set up fee, monthly fee or minimum. Instead, iZettle merchants pay 2.75% of each transaction. iZettle then electronically deposits payments in the merchant’s bank account.
The Financial Supervisory Authority regulates iZettle, whose services are EMV (Europay, MasterCard and Visa) approved and compliant with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS).
“Spain’s small business owners are hurting – they need a helping hand, and a easy, low cost way to start taking credit card payment so they never have to miss a sale because their customer didn’t happen to have cash,” said Jacob de Geer, co-founder and CEO of iZettle, whose mobile payments app and card reader has increased card acceptances places in Sweden with 25 per cent in just one year.
The iZettle service is already available in six markets across Europe – Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, the United Kingdom and Germany.
Now available from Apple’s App Store or Google Play, iZettle’s free app is fantastically fast to set up and super simple to use.
The chip and signature credit card reader, which plugs into Apple or Android phones and tablets, is, for a limited period of time, available free of charge on www.izettle.com
With the iZettle app and card reader small businesses and individuals can take payments with all major credit cards, including Visa, MasterCard, American Express.
About iZettle
iZettle is payments made easy. With iZettle, anyone selling anything face to face can use smartphones and tablets to accept credit card payments and manage their business – and for a fraction of the cost of traditional systems. The social payments company’s services are always secure, fantastically fast to set up, and super simple to use. Founded in 2010, with headquarters in Stockholm, iZettle is now available in the U.K., Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Spain and coming soon to more countries. To start accepting card payments today go to www.izettle.com.