Near field communication (NFC) mobile ad startup Tapit has reeled in an undisclosed seed funding round from Sydney Angels for its service, which allows consumers to cash in on offers by waving their mobile devices in front of a Tapit logo, as the mobile payments space continues to gather pace. NFC is a wireless technology that can transmit data over a short distance and is opening up a new market for digital payments that dispense with the need for physical credit cards, tickets and coupons and is increasingly attracting big backing.
Winning the funding a matter of weeks after approaching investors, CEO Jamie Conyngham says the investor endorsement is as much a testament to the firm’s business model as industry-wide appetite for the technology. “Everyone we meet loves the idea of Tapit, it’s addictive,” he tells TechCrunch.
Founded in March this year, the Australian firm will focus on using the wireless technology for marketing campaigns for clients ranging from carriers to brands and will extend its offering to include daily deals, mobile commerce, surveys content delivery and social media. Although the growth of mobile payments will be hampered in the short term by both the limited number of devices with NFC chips and participating partners, as well as ongoing wariness among consumers themselves, the market is expected to grow stratospherically over the next few years.
Whitepapers
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