Bling Nation gets another $20M funding for its pay-by-cellphone system
Bling Nation, a Palo Alto-based company, has created a mobile payment service called Redi Pay that lets phone users pay for things in stores with their phones. I wrote about Bling Nation in July, when the company landed $8M in funding $from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Meck and Camp Ventures.
Today, TechCrunch reports Bling Nation has closed another $20M round from London-based Balderton Capital, bringing the company’s total funding to date to $33 million.
Bling’s payment system is one I’m skeptical of, because it requires retailers to install Bling Nation credit card machines in their stores. The devices scan the customer’s Bling info off their phone screen. Bling takes a cut of each transaction. The company says it is doing well in two small test towns in Colorado, says TechCrunch, because the company can close deals with all the local merchants, making Bling payment locally ubiquitous.
It’s tempting to say Bling’s ability to close deals doesn’t seem to scale. But people laughed at Wal-mart, too.
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About the Author, Paul Boutin
Paul (paul@venturebeat.com) covers Apple & the iPhone, social networks & social media, digital music & video, and any crazy Internet story. Paul wrote and edited for Valleywag from 2006-2008, after several years with Wired magazine and Slate. He writes regularly for The New York Times' technology section and sometimes for Wired and The Wall Street Journal. He studied computer science at MIT in the early 1980s, and worked as a software developer and network administrator for 15 years before becoming a professional writer. Follow him on Twitter at @paulboutin, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.
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