RedCloud Technology, an investor in mobile financial services in emerging markets, and Plextek, a European product innovation, business and design consultancy are acquiring the Intellectual Property Rights of Iceni Mobile, an online and mobile payment service provider for the unbanked (view press release). Under the agreement, Plextek and RedCloud are also acquiring Iceni’s mobile payments system (the I2S platform), which was developed by the same team that brought M-PESA to the market and enables telecom operators, banks and payment service providers to offer financial services to anyone with a mobile phone. The two companies plan to deliver the technology as a platform as a service and provide an alternative way in which to bring mobile money and associated services to the market.

“We are set to transform the way in which mobile money technology is delivered to financial organizations,” said Warren Carew, one of the founders of Iceni. “Traditional mobile payment software that many financial organizations use today was designed to work in an offline world. Platform as a Service will remove barriers to entry for future providers allowing them to accelerate their entry to market.”