Mobile-payment initiatives from Google Inc., Isis and PayPal Inc. appear to be motivating investment firms to take a closer look at the companies that will help enable such transactions at brick-and-mortar locations.

Mobile-payments startup Square Inc.’s $100 million venture-capital avalanche announced June 29 could mean that the company’s transaction volume is gaining significant momentum despite its lack of profits, one analyst contends.

Citing “shortcomings” with the technology, Australia’s ANZ Banking Group Ltd. has halted development of a microSD iPhone case designed to turn a smartphone into a payment device.

Jet Airways Ltd., India’s largest private airline by passengers carried, has begun offering a mobile-ticketing service for booking seats on its flights, a sign of continued expansion of mobile commerce in India.

Mobile payments in India received a major boost on June 27 when Nokia India Pvt. Ltd., the Indian arm of the Finnish mobile handset maker, announced it would offer its Mobile Money service on all Nokia devices.

Another company has announced a mobile payments and marketing app in what some are calling the Wild West of mobile payments.

A San Francisco-based startup called Card.io is offering software that enables cell-phone cameras to scan credit card information, thus moving ecommerce from the Web to mobile phones and creating a new product for ISOs to sell to merchants.

Small and midsize businesses now have an alternative to traditional card-payment processing channels through a new mobile-payment processing service rolled out earlier this month by Australia’s Commonwealth Bank Ltd.

Vivotech Inc., a Near Field Communication software and systems company, has received $24 million in funding to expand beyond the 35 countries where its products are now used, the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company announced June 27.

A San Francisco-based startup called Card.io is offering software that enables cell-phone cameras to scan credit card information, thus moving ecommerce from the Web to mobile.

Users of the check-in service Foursquare now can automatically redeem deals offered by merchants on the social-media application using an enrolled American Express Co. card.

Billtrust has launched a mobile edition of its online billing and payment software, the company announced July 21.

Mobile-payments service provider ChamsMobile Ltd. soon will launch mobile funds-transfer services in Nigeria, enabling citizens there to make payments for retail purchases and receive remittances from overseas connections.

Mobile-payments service provider ChamsMobile Ltd. soon will launch mobile funds-transfer services in Nigeria, enabling citizens there to make payments for retail purchases and receive remittances from overseas connections.

The rise of online and mobile banking plus new regulatory pressure on debit card interchange are converging to spark explosive growth in credit and debit card merchant-funded loyalty programs, a new report suggests.

The announcement last week by several telecommunication companies of plans to create a joint venture to fast-track mobile-payments processing potentially has broad implications for the mobile-payments market in Europe. But the companies have worked together before with little resulting success.

Despite efforts by major card companies to promote the speed and excitement of using mobile phones to pay, it likely will take more than glitzy marketing to convince consumers to use such services, according to a Federal Reserve strategist.

Telefónica UK, Vodafone UK, and T-Mobile and Orange parent Everything Everywhere plan to form a joint venture in mobile marketing and payments, the companies announced June 16.

Intuit Inc. is among various vendors that could feel a shock from the emergence of Near Field Communication-powered mobile-payment schemes such as Google Wallet and Isis designed to eclipse banks’ existing, more-pedestrian offerings, such as online and mobile bank-account management.

First Data Corp. is working with mobile news network operator LSN Mobile Inc. to provide a mobile advertising and coupon system for merchants, the companies announced June 15.