SumUp secures funding to take mobile payments to South America

Mobile point-of-sale company, SumUp, recently raised a rumoured ‘double-digit million Euro’ round in Series B funding from Groupon and American Express. Today it announced further Series B funding with investment from BBVA Ventures.

The investment from BBVA Ventures, which is the corporate venture arm of multinational banking group BBVA, will help SumUp cement its position in Spain and Portugal, as well as expand into South America in the near future, reports The Next Web. The investment amount is undisclosed, but it is known that BBVA Ventures has US$100 million at its disposal to back financial service startups worldwide.

SumUp co-founder Jan Deepen had this to say on the investment and expansion:

We are delighted to bring on BBVA Ventures as a new financial investor. International expansion is a key component of our growth story. Having BBVA as a strong partner at our side as we expand to regions beyond Europe — in particular South America — is invaluable.

The funding will also be used to build an end-to-end payment solution, including a proprietary and certified payments gateway, as well as a proprietary terminal and operations systems.

Point-of-sale (POS) is imperative to any small business owner, especially for merchants on the move, and having the ability to accept card payments over cash is a convenience every merchant would want to offer their customers. SumUp helps merchants accept both debit and credit cards through a small device attached to their smartphone or tablet.

Jay Reinemann, Executive Director, BBVA Ventures, comments:

“SumUp changes the way point of sale interaction works on a global scale. At BBVA we pride ourselves in driving innovation in the financial sector globally. That’s why we are very excited about investing in SumUp. In less than a year, the team has proven that they can change an entire industry and enable small merchants to run their businesses more successfully. That’s a great fit with what we stand for.”

SumUp was founded in 2011, and operates out of offices in London, Berlin, Moscow, Madrid and Milan. It’s services are currently available in European countries such as Ireland, Spain, UK, Netherlands, Germany, Portugal and Russia, but expect to see it available in South American countries sooner rather than later. The company only charges a fee of 2.75% per card transaction.