mPowa beats Square to Africa in multi-million dollar deal with FNB

This is big. Square competitor mPowa will launch its payments device in South Africa after inking a multi-million dollar deal with banking giant FNB.

The deal is the first for the UK-based company, which is now offering its mobile card reading device as a white label solution. While the exact terms of the deal are unknown, mPowa says that it is in the “multimillion pound” range.

Under the terms of the deal, FNB will integrate mPowa’s hardware into existing merchant services (which also include mobile GeoPayments), with its own branding.

“This deal validates our white label strategy, which in itself is a vital part of how we plan to take hold of the global mobile payment market,” said mPowa CEO and founder Dan Wagner in a statement. “We have aggressive growth plans and are looking to rapidly increase take-up of our service as more companies capitalise on the business benefits that mPowa delivers.”

According to Wagner, the product will be rolled out to “thousands” of FNB’s business customers.

The likes of Square started trying to provide card payment services to small merchants who did not have access to card payment facilities. While, that’s true of mPowa, it’s also going after merchants who already do take card payments.

As TechCrunch notes, that’s great, especially for people like couriers who can now be paid at the point of delivery. It could also change the way people do their in-store shopping though.

Assistants can potentially process a purchase anywhere in the store. That means less time for people to change their minds and leave the store on the way to the till.

Developing…