Mobile payments company SumUp has successfully raised a $20m series A round. Participating in the round were venture firms b-to-v Ventures, Shortcut Ventures, Tengelmann Ventures, and investor Klaus Hommels, who invested early in Skype, Facebook, and Xing.
The money raised will be used by SumUp to open up for business in the UK, Germany, Ireland, and Austria. Before the round, the company had used an initial investment from its founders to get it off the ground, according to news provider TechCrunch.
The Dublin-based company is bringing to market a product that is very similar to Square’s mobile payment system. Square has thus far raised $166m in venture funding with backing from Visa, Richard Branson, and Starbucks.
SumUp chief executive officer Daniel Klein said: “A lot of small businesses are operating on very tight margins, and can’t afford to lose out on making a sale because they can’t process a card payment. However, they are all too often discouraged from partnering up with banks and renting conventional payment terminals because of the expense and difficulty inherent in doing so. Our mission is to reduce the expense, remove the difficulty, and make it possible for every merchant – no matter how small, unique, or mobile their business – to accept card payments. We’re taking the pain out of taking payments, and we’re helping small merchants to build stronger relationships with their customers.”