Boku enters NFC market with white label payments and offers platform

The high profile online mobile payments company, whose services are used by more than 240 mobile network operators around the world, has entered the NFC market with Boku Accounts, a turnkey white label platform that lets carriers offer subscribers a full suite of in-store payments and loyalty services.

Boku
BOKU: White label payments and offers

High profile online mobile payments provider Boku has entered the NFC market with Boku Accounts, a white label payments and loyalty service.

Boku Accounts is designed to be offered to consumers by mobile network operators. The turnkey platform allows carriers to provide subscribers with an own-branded mobile payment account that can be accessed via their mobile phone or the internet, tracks budgets and spending and can be used to make a full range of in-app, online, money transfer and in-store payments.

The service includes a loyalty and promotions platform, enabling merchants to offer loyalty incentives to subscribers as well as to send targeted offers via mobile app, SMS, push notification, or online.

The service works with both NFC phones and contactless stickers attached to standard smartphones and feature phones. Consumers who sign up with their carrier for the service receive:

  • A stored value Boku account that they can reload via credit card, by linking a bank account or by topping up at merchants and other locations.
  • A debit card that can be used to charge payments to the account at stores that don’t have a contactless terminal.
  • A contactless sticker, if they don’t already have an NFC phone.
  • Online access to their account, optimized for both PC and mobile browsers with HTML 5.
  • The ability to set budgeting alerts and spending controls, allowing them to set, for example, a weekly eating out budget of $50 and receive a notification when they get close to their limit.
  • iPhone and Android users also get an own-branded mobile app that ties directly to their account to provide a feature-rich payments, offers, and loyalty program experience.

“The solution builds upon Boku’s extensive experience of working directly with mobile network operators and offers a new, smarter payment experience for MNOs, their subscribers and merchants,” says the company. “MNOs can seamlessly give their subscribers an all-in-one, bank-grade mobile payments solution that is universally accepted both on-line and in the physical world.”

Boku has partnered with MasterCard for the launch of Boku Accounts but the platform is designed to work with other payment networks as well. The company has produced a video showing the service in action:

“Boku Accounts brings together the best parts of mobile payments and technology, leveraging NFC, smartphones and global payment networks for a better consumer experience,” says Mark Britto, CEO of Boku. “We are leveraging the power of the device in your pocket to improve every transaction you make, anywhere in the world, and helping our MNO partners expand into the off-line world, while bringing tremendous value to their subscribers and merchants alike.”

“Working with MasterCard gives our MNO partners confidence that their subscribers can make a payment anywhere MasterCard is accepted,” adds Ron Hirson, Boku’s president.

Founded in 2008, Boku’s mobile payment services are already used by more than 240 carriers around the world. The company has raised more than US$40m in funding from leading venture capitalists including Andreessen Horowitz, Benchmark Capital, DAG Ventures, Index Ventures and Khosla Ventures.

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