Fresh off moving its Citi Ventures unit to the Bay Area to get close to the latest payments tech buzz, Citi’s investing in mobile payments firm Billing Revolution.
Billing Revolution claims it allows users to purchase digital and physical goods globally across Apple, Android, Symbian, RIM, Windows Phone 7, Bada and webOS operating systems. The San Francisco and Seattle-based firm has also attracted about $10 million in venture capital from DCM and SK Telecom Ventures. Citi’s investment is part of a $6 million Series B round that was just completed.
The firm positions itself as an alternative to a carrier-based billing platform that supports credit cards, debit, P2P, stored value and Amazon payments. It’s also available on smart phones, feature phones and tablets.
Chris Kay, head of ventures for Citi Ventures, a unit of Citi that partners with Citi businesses internally and with other companies to develop new business that support Citi's overall strategy, says the unit is evaluating mobile features and capabilities in general, and is looking to invest in ìstartups and more mature companies that are relevant to Citi businesses and technologiesî and support the bank’s emerging strategic directions.
In a statement, Dickson Chu, who joined Citi from PayPal to be a managing director in the new Enterprise Payments Group, said Billing Revolution’s platform is "truly innovative, and the company has the potential to be a game changer." The Citi Global Enterprise Payments group combines the bank's transaction banking and cards businesses in an initiative to provide services in the corporate-to-consumer market.
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