Rocket Internet‘s mobile payments platform payleven has launched its Chip&PIN service across Europe, the first to incorporate authorization requiring a PIN rather than a signature. Businesses small or large will be able to use the device to accept payments for all major credit and debit cards – a unique selling point as it is the first to be certified by Visa, which requires Chip&PIN functionality.
With an introductory price of €49 and shipping of its devices set to start on February 18, payleven is hoping it can get a run on the other players in the mobile payments space which are also scrambling for market share.
Users input their PIN on the payleven device, which also reads the card, and it then connects to a smartphone or tablet via Bluetooth to authorize the payment. The use of Chip&PIN offers the same level of security as a traditional card terminal, payleven claims, with EMV Level 2 and PCI certification – something which it says other mobile point of sale (MPOS) platforms lack as they rely on signature-authorized transactions.
Konstantin Wolff is CMO and co-founder of payleven, which is based in Berlin and London and which recently revealed a funding round in the high-single digit millions. He said: “With Chip & PIN we can offer our merchants the highest security standard in card payments whilst being fully mobile, more flexible and convenient than traditional card terminals.”
Stanley Skoglund, senior vice president of payment systems risk at Visa Europe, said: “This kind of solution helps to increase card acceptance while preserving the important Chip&PIN functionality and all the security benefits that it provides. We are delighted to see solutions emerge that can bring Chip&PIN out of the shop and into the hands of small merchants.”
The company will be hoping the Chip&PIN feature can boost it ahead of rivals such as of SumUp, iZettle and Adyen, as well as Square in the US, many of which offer a similar no monthly fee, no subscription model with payment-per-transaction of around the 2.75 percent which payleven charges.