Purported Clinkle Payments App Appears in Web Video

The details of Clinkle's new payments service appear to have been leaked in an online video, though the company says the video is not a legitimate representation of its service.

"As a general policy, we don't comment on product speculation. However, I will say that the video that was posted is a) inaccurate and b) to the best of our knowledge, produced by a Venmo [a rival social payment company] employee," said Ana Braskamp, a Clinkle spokeswoman, in an email to PaymentsSource. Venmo, a unit of Braintree (which eBay is purchasing), said the company did not have any involvement in the video.

Clinkle has attracted about $25 million in funding from a group of high-profile Silicon Valley investors, including PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel. Clinkle has generated considerable buzz on San Francisco-area technology blogs, but has not revealed a great deal about its technology.

Clinkle is developing a system to allow mobile payments with a reduced reliance on hardware or cards—the transactions will instead by executed by a mobile app used by merchants and consumers. Clinkle has not publically disclosed how it will do this, but it will reportedly rely on high-frequency sound emitted by smartphone speakers, resembling a method used by companies such as VeriFone, Alipay and shopkick. PayPal achieves a similar effect using Bluetooth in its Beacon device.

The YouTube video that purports to describe the Clinkle app includes a screen that says "Aerolink enabled," for payments in stores.