VibePay wants more testers for its social pay app

VibePay is releasing its app on Google Play and the Apple App Store and calling for up to 100,000 new beta testers.

The U.K.-based social payment app is actively encouraging consumers to download its app and join its existing waitlist as it prepares to expand its user base. The app was first launched in an-invite only beta test in September when it accepted the first 1,000 users on Apple’s iOS platform.

By end of November it had released its fourth wave of the ever-expanding beta test. According to Finextra since VibePay’s launch it has attracted a wait list of 12,000 people. VibePay is aiming to increase its user base to 100,000 within the next few months and introduce a B2B payment solution and a social seller acceptance capability in 2020.

The social payment app is similar to Venmo in the U.S. in that its main focus is to enable peer-to-peer (P2P) payments and allows for messages to be included in the payments for other users to view. It’s different from start in that it plans to allow social sellers or merchants to accept payments almost from the beginning. In comparison, Venmo only began reaching out to merchants several years after its initial P2P launch which has been a challenge as its parent PayPal has sought to monetize the P2P service

VibePay has actively connecting high street banks to its P2P service, noting in recent blog posts that it has enabled users to connect their bank accounts from Bank of Scotland, Barclays, Danske Bank, First Direct, M&S Bank, HSBC, NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, Santander, Nationwide, Halifax, Ulster Bank and Lloyds. VibePay is also actively working on integration efforts with Clydesdale Bank, TSB and digitally-focused challengers Starling Bank and Revolut.

In a sign that VibePay is seeking to tap into a broader, digital-only audience. It announced on Tuesday that it has added the capability for its users to connect their Monzo bank accounts to VibePay for sending and receiving payments. Monzo is a U.K. digital-only challenger bank that is adding 200,000 new user accounts per month and raised £113 million (about $150 million) in a Series F funding raising round in June. Key investors in Monzo include Stripe, Accel Partners, General Catalyst and the startup accelerator firm Y Combinator.