Consumer electronics manufacturer Apple has acquired Canada-based payment technology provider Mobeewave for about $100m, enabling corporates Mastercard, Samsung and Sberbank to exit, Bloomberg has reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Founded in 2011, Mobeewave has created a mobile app that allows users to accept payments by tapping the buyer’s debit or credit card on the back of their smartphones.
The technology would theoretically improve the capability of Apple Pay, the digital wallet released by Apple that enables users to pay for products using their iPhones.
Details of the acquisition were disclosed on the same day as Apple chief executive Tim Cook told CNBC that the corporate’s acquisitions largely focused on intellectual property that could optimise the performance of its products, rather than on potential competitors.
Mobeewave had raised more than $26m altogether, most recently closing its series B round at nearly $20m after a January 2019 investment by electronics producer Samsung through its Samsung Ventures unit.
Payment services provider Mastercard co-led the round’s $16.5m first tranche two months earlier with NewAlpha Asset Management and Forestay Capital, a subsidiary of asset manager Waypoint Capital, investing alongside unnamed founding shareholders.
The company had previously received $6.5m in series A funding from financial services firm Sberbank’s SBT Venture Capital subsidiary in 2015.
