Santander has invested more than €5m into mobile payment startup iZettle
iZettle, the social payments company, has received a €5m strategic investment from Banco Santander, which the startup will use to expand its services.
iZettle was founded by Jacob de Geer and Magnus Nilsson, allowing users to plug in a dongle into their smartphone or tablet and take card payments. Since it was launched in Sweden in 2010, iZettle has expanded into Britain, Spain, Germany, Denmark Norway and Finland, and it accepts payments from Europay, MasterCard and Visa cards.
The €5m investment from Santander will allow iZettle to expand its coverage further, says de Geer. “We want to bring iZettle to the world, and to do that we must have strategic partnerships with the world’s leading banks. Our relationship with Banco Santander is central to our transition from local to multinational services.”
UK partnership
iZettle has also announced that it is partnering with Santander UK to offer its chip and PIN reader to Santander Business Banking clients at a preferential rate.
The company says this will “help level the playing field” for SMEs, by enabling them to offer the same level of service as their larger competitors, allowing them to handle less cash and cheques and cutting down on admin.
Currently, 39 per cent of UK shoppers avoid small businesses that don’t accept card payments, so it is hoped that by offering iZettle card readers to small businesses, their business will increase, adds de Geer.
“With younger generations clearly expecting to be able to pay by card, it’s important that our own customers aren’t being held back,” he explains.
Ramón Tellaeche, head of Santander Cards at Banco Santander, adds: “Millions of small business owners and professionals in the markets where we operate need an alternative to conventional credit card terminals, and simple software to manage and analyze their transactions. We believe iZettle’s innovative mobile technologies will be crucial to those merchants’ near and long term success.”
London’s fintech scene is seeing a spike in interest, particularly mobile payments startups. Just last month, iZettle competitor Sum Up took investment from American Express, in a bid to develop its future services.