Obopay adds $29M to warchest, amid competition in mobile payments
Obopay, the Redwood City, Calif. company that lets you send payments to people from a mobile phone, has raised $29 million more in a third round of funding.
The service launched last year, and it’s not clear how much traction it has. The funding announcement was made quietly, after the fact (see wording), quite low-key given the intense competition the company is facing in mobile payments. There are at least eight other players, ranging from Google and PayPal, to smaller players like Kushcash (coverage here), Paymate (coverage here), Danal, PaymentOne, Payoneer and Vivotech (all covered or mentioned here). Granted, they each have their own strategy and focus.
We previously wrote about the company here, mentioning its BREW technology. It previously raised $17 million
Richmond Global Cellular led the round, which included AllianceBernstein L.P., Citi, Societe Generale and others. Previous investors Qualcomm and Redpoint Ventures also participated, the company said.
In May, Google Checkout announced its support of mobile payments. Last month, PayPal launched its mobile payment version, however only announcing it officially this Tuesday (see eweek article).
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About the Author, Matt Marshall
Matt launched VentureBeat in September of 2006, with the realization that no one else was covering the entrepreneurial and tech innovation scene with the velocity or depth that he was. Prior to founding VentureBeat, he covered venture capital for the San Jose Mercury News from 2001 to 2006. In 2002, Matt was awarded "Journalist of the Year" by the Northern California Society of Professional Journalists. Prior to working at the Merc, he was a correspondent for the Wall Street Journal in Bonn, Germany from 1995 to 1998, and a writer for the Washington Post in 1994. Matt holds a PhD in Government and an MA in German and European Studies from Georgetown University. In addition to VentureBeat, Matt is also the Executive Producer of DEMO, the leading launchpad event for emerging technologies.
