Mozido Adds Big Piece to Its Mobile-Pay Puzzle with CorFire Purchase

White-label mobile payments and commerce provider Mozido LLC has acquired mobile wallet provider CorFire, which developed mobile wallets for retailers like Dunkin' Donuts, to fuel its global expansion.

Austin, Texas-based Mozido did not disclose the cost of its purchase of the majority ownership of SK C&C USA dba CorFire, which was previously wholly-owned by South Korean IT services provider SK C&C. CorFire's intellectual property and patents will be key to Mozido's plans for attracting new business worldwide, said Dan O'Malley, chief operating officer for Mozido.

"We have a very specific viewpoint of how we can attack a global market and we think the CorFire acquisition and the assets that exist there are very germane to what we are doing at Mozido," O'Malley said.

In addition to Dunkin' Brands, Atlanta-based CorFire also provides mobile payment technology to Dairy Queen and various other retailers' mobile payment apps.

As such, CorFire's reputation will boost Mozido's presence with U.S. brands, said Richard Oglesby, senior analyst at Double Diamond Payments Research.

"Mozido has long targeted a global market and a lot of developing economies as well, but they seem to be building out some more U.S.-centric stuff here, too," he said.

In determining how Mozido could "ramp up its brand," the company targeted CorFire as a technology provider that could help that mission, O'Malley said.

"The combination of the processes that SK C&C has developed through CorFire, such as Near Field Communication capabilities, and the cloud-based Mozido platform" all contributed to CorFire's appeal as an acquisition target, O'Malley said.

In addition, CorFire "has some really talented people" that have helped it build strong brands in the industry, O'Malley said.

Mozido plans to expand its cloud-based platform relationships with mobile network operators, particularly CorFire customer Vodafone. It also values the partnerships CorFire has established in the past, O'Malley said.

Three years ago, CorFire partnered with Atlanta-based InComm Inc. to provide merchants with a branded mobile wallet and built-in loyalty program.

CorFire has also worked with PayPal in the past to bolster its mobile commerce offerings, incorporating its technology into PayPal's Mobile Express Checkout and PayPal Here.

These deals also fit with Mozido's recent activities in mobile commerce.

Early this year, Mozido acquired StickyStreet, a New York-based company specializing in creating and managing customer loyalty programs.

And last month, Mozido revealed a commercial partnership with MasterCard to integrate the card brand's payment and security products into its range of services.

"With Mozido, you can pay and engage in rewards and no one is doing that particularly well on a global scale with consistency with the ability to actually drive that behavior," O'Malley said.

Through these moves, Mozido expects to enhance its mobile wallet function, including international and domestic remittances, person-to-person payments, mobile bill pay, and international and domestic airtime top-up.

Retailers and consumers can also expect new mobile loyalty and proximity marketing services in the future.