The Social Payment

Est 2015. A Division of Labyrinthus LLC. Social Payment Experts.

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Bundle: A Social Payment App For Africa’s Emerging Digital Economy

Bundle comes as a zero-fee solution for Africa’s emerging digital economy. After closing a prior financing round with Binance, the blockchain company behind one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges, Bundle quickly brought to market its Venmo-like cash and crypto social payments app.

“We believe Africa has several characteristics that make it a prime geographical location for the realization of the full potential of digital currencies, blockchain, and its applications. Currently, only 1.4 million people out of 1.2 billion people in Africa use crypto today. This is a worthwhile mission because making the blockchain ecosystem more accessible unlocks economic opportunity on and for the continent,” said Bundle Chief Technical Officer, Taiwo Orilogbon.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/finance.yahoo.com/amphtml/news/bundle-launches-social-payments-app-183034543.html

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Social Payment App Gains $850,000 In Funding

UAE bank account holders can now use their smartphones to send and receive money as easily as sending a text message.

Ziina, the UAE’s first licensed social peer-to-peer (P2P) payment application, is available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store for download.

Ziina is on a mission to simplify payments for everyone. Users can send and receive money with just a phone number — no IBAN or swift code required. Ziina offers bank-grade security and end-to-end encryption, never holding onto your money so every transfer goes fast. The app provides a seamless way for friends and family to split the cost of takeout or a grocery bill.

The young start-up raised a pre-seed round of US$850,000, led by San Francisco based Class 5 Global with participation from Samih Toukan’s Jabbar Internet Group, and other prominent angel investors.

Ziina is the latest addition to the Middle East’s fintech ecosystem and is capitalizing on the region's rapid adoption of fintech friendly regulation. Ziina’s cofounders - Faisal Toukan, CEO, Sarah Toukan, Chief Product Officer, and Andrew Gold, VP Engineering - look to encourage the adoption of mobile payment solutions in their bid to fast track the UAE’s transition towards a cashless society. They are joined by a strong advisory board including serial entrepreneur Samih Toukan, and Emre Tok, who previously served as VP of Growth at Careem leading a team of 80 people. The founding team recently launched the start-up’s operations out of Dubai’s In5 tech start-up incubator, with a license issued by TECOM.

https://www.finextra.com/pressarticle/82563/social-payments-app-ziina-banks-850000-in-pre-seed-funding

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Facebooks Libra Is Launching With Revisions To The Original Plan

When Facebook unveiled its Libra cryptocurrency project last June, the social networking company described it as a futuristic global money that could serve as the foundation for a new kind of financial system.

But on Thursday, Facebook and its partners rolled out a less ambitious design for Libra after the effort encountered numerous hurdles and heavy regulatory scrutiny.

No longer is the group focused on making Libra the basis of a new global financial system where Facebook could essentially play the roles of a central bank and Wall Street.

In a sign of the change, the Libra project will now focus on creating a more traditional payment network in which coins will be tied to a local currency, somewhat like the digital dollars in a PayPal account. While Libra will also have a coin backed by multiple national currencies, which was the focus of the initial design documents, that will be less prominent.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/16/technology/facebook-libra-cryptocurrency.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage&section=Technology

Facebook-Backed Libra Cryptocurrency Project Is Scaled Back

After months of criticism, the cryptocurrency is moving ahead with significant revisions.

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New Head For HSBC’s Social Payment App

HSBC has appointed Greg Hingston as the Asia Pacific head of its new wealth and personal banking (WPB) unit, effective 1 April, the bank said in a statement on Tuesday.

Hingston joined HSBC in 2006 and is currently head of wealth and personal banking, Hong Kong. He has held a number of leadership roles at the firm, including global head of strategy for retail banking and wealth management, head of customer value management and head of international, RBWM Europe, and regional head of retail banking, EMEA.

As head of HSBC's retail business in Hong Kong, Hingston was instrumental in advancing mobile banking and digital investment capabilities, and drove the growth and evolution of its customer experience, including the bank's social payment platform PayMe, the statement said.

https://www.finews.asia/finance/31216-hsbc-appoints-regional-head-new-wealth-personal-banking-unit-greg-hingston

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Public.com’s Social Investing App

Public.com’s social-investing app launched in September 2019. It lets members buy shares in any publicly traded U.S. company or exchange-traded fund (ETF) like the SPDR S&P 500 for as little as $5 and doesn’t charge any commissions. The service makes it more affordable for first-time stock investors to participate in public equity markets through a “fractional” investment model in which a single share of, say, Netflix (which last Friday closed at $369.03 per share) is split among multiple individuals.

The app lets you follow friends, domain experts and interest-based themes, letting you see what other people are investing in and learn about investing strategies.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/variety.com/2020/digital/news/public-com-funding-will-smith-jj-watt-sophia-amoruso-1203520261/amp/

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Crypto.com Launches Social Payments App

Crypto.com has launched “Pay Your Friends,” which will allow for no-fee, direct crypto payments and offers a $50 equivalent in rewards for getting friends to use the Crypto.com Chain (CRO), according to reports.

“What we want to achieve with ‘Pay Your Friends’ is to give our users a reason to bring all their friends into cryptocurrency. The user experience is instantaneous and free — the more users get a chance to experience it, the closer we get to global adoption,” the company said in a blog post.

Crypto.com wants to make its digital assets more popular, and its pushing innovation with the new direct in-app payment, which is an addition to its debit card business. The move will put the company in direct competition with other social payment platforms, like Venmo, Revolut, Circle and Square.

CRO was trading in the area of $0.045 with its volumes up a little, but still down after a latest round of sell-offs. The coin that’s associated with Crypto.com, MCO, was trading around $3.44, which was near its lows.

However, the new social platform has the potential to help demand for CRO, because rewards are directly tied to how much is staked inside the system.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.pymnts.com/cryptocurrency/2019/crypto-com-adds-social-app-for-direct-crypto-payments/amp/

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UK Payments Firm Tests Social Payments App

The London-based social payment app VibePay is being trialed with 1,000 Vibe members, the company announced in a press release on Monday (Sept. 29).

VibePay is a payment initiation service (PIS) that uses open banking to facilitate payments. Members invited to test the system can download the free app and share a special payment link to quickly send money to people in the Vibe community. The app can also be used to plan activities with friends and initiate a group pay.

“The phenomenal support from the Vibe community shows that we’re onto something great with VibePay. Their input has shaped the product we’re releasing today, and we’re excited to work closely with our users to make VibePay the best payments app out there,” said Luke Massie, CEO and founder of VibePay.

The app was created with feedback from the Vibe community. Recent research indicates 25 percent of young people in the U.K. are owed money from their friends. Each individual transaction has to be authorized via a user’s online banking provider.

The VibePay platform was built as an aggregation layer over the open banking APIs. VibePay for Business is being planned for a trial run later this year. The B2B solution will enable consumers to pay for online purchases directly from their bank accounts.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.pymnts.com/mobile-applications/2019/social-payment-app-tested-by-vibe-members/amp/

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Social Payments May Reach $3.5 Trillion by 2024

Juniper Research predicted the use of mobile cash transfer technology in emerging markets and increased adoption of payments through social networks in the US would help drive a rapid increase in digital remittances.

In its latest report into the digital money transfer business, the analyst company predicted at least $3.5 trillion would be transferred digitally between users in the same country in 2024, up from $1.8 trillion expected in 2019. Of the 2024 figure, 86 per cent is expected to be sent through mobile transactions.

Much of this growth, the company said, would be due to the popularity and prevalence of mobile money services in emerging markets. It noted mobile money services were expected to reach 84 per cent of the population of Middle East and Africa by the end of its forecast period.

Elsewhere, Juniper Research identified the continued rise of social payments in the US, where transaction values are expected to rise by 280 per cent within its forecast period.

The company noted although PayPal’s Venmo had a strong position in the US social payment market, Facebook would attempt to capitalise on its assets with the launch of the Facebook Pay brand, which will integrate its existing and forthcoming payment services.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.mobileworldlive.com/money/news-money/domestic-cash-transfers-tipped-to-top-3-5t-in-2024/amp/

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Vouchr For Social Payments

Banks may tout the simplicity and speed of peer-to-peer payments service Zelle, but compared to PayPal-owned Venmo, the experience can seem impersonal. The Venmo social feed, with its ubiquitous beer and pizza emojis, is promoted as a customer loyalty driver and an outreach tool for brands.

While most banks have shied away from social aspects of payment transactions, Toronto-based Vouchr is working to equip them with the tools to compete with Venmo and other social payment platforms. The five-year-old company has been working with the Royal Bank of Canada since 2017, along with another major Canadian bank it wouldn’t name. It will also soon launch with three U.S. banks and one European financial institution, founder Robert Balahura told Bank Innovation. He did not offer specifics on the dates of the upcoming launches.

“It delivers context — it’s like ‘Hey, I really appreciate you doing this job for me,’ rather than an impersonal money transfer,” he said.

Vouchr is a platform that can integrate with any payment transaction, noted Balahura. It involves adding rich media, videos, gifs and sounds to create a payment experience that resembles Snapchat. In some cases, Vouchr’s capabilities are embedded into mobile payments. However, when the receiving bank is not integrated with Vouchr, recipients receive a link through email that takes them to the experience.

https://bankinnovation.net/allposts/biz-lines/payments/toronto-based-vouchr-is-helping-banks-make-payments-more-social/

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Facebook Social Pay Attempts To Reduce Friction In The Social Shopping Experience

Making it easier for users to buy stuff straight from Facebook or Instagram is a challenge Facebook is working to solve. Earlier this year, it introduced Instagram Checkout, which enables users to buy products on Instagram instead of redirecting consumers to a merchant's website.

Facebook Pay represents another way to reduce friction in the social shopping experience. If a user sets up Facebook Pay after they find an item with Instagram Checkout, for example, they may be more likely to complete a purchase through Facebook Marketplace by sending money through Messenger. It could also enable businesses, using Messenger and WhatsApp to communicate with customers and potential customers, to increase their sales through those channels.

If Facebook can effectively increase sales for businesses on its various apps with Facebook Pay, it doesn't need to worry about monetizing the service directly. In effect, it increases the value for merchants to establish a presence across its apps and spend more money on advertising.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.fool.com/amp/investing/2019/11/15/2-big-benefits-of-facebooks-new-payments-platform.aspx

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Revenue From Social Payments Platforms Will Increase To $158 Billion by 2024

New data from Juniper Research has shown that revenue from payment platforms that enables merchants to process payments will grow from $106 billion in 2019 to $158 billion by 2024.

It forecasts over half of global revenue will be generated in China by 2024; primarily owing to its increasing affluence and vast usage of social payments such as WeChat Pay.

The new research, Mobile & Online Remote Payments for Digital & Physical Goods: Opportunities, Pain Points & Competition 2019-2024 forecasts losses from payment fraud will grow by 70% over the next five years. Juniper Research urges payment platform providers to leverage the efficiency of emerging technologies to fight this increasingly sophisticated threat.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.telemediaonline.co.uk/payment-platform-revenues-to-increase-by-50-between-2019-and-2024-globally-says-juniper/amp/

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Facebook Pay Will Present Major Competition For PayPal and Apple Pay

Facebook is making a foray into online payments with its new Facebook Pay service, the company announced Tuesday — and could be poised to take a big bite out of PayPal’s and Apple Pay’s business.

The new service rolls out in the U.S. starting this week on the flagship Facebook app and Messenger, and will become available on Instagram and WhatsApp down the road. The service can be used for fundraisers, in-game purchases, event tickets, payments between individual users on Messenger, and purchases from Pages and businesses on Facebook Marketplace.

IT-Harvest Chief Research Analyst Richard Stiennon said Facebook’s huge market penetration gives the Menlo Park-based social media giant the ability to dominate in markets, especially if Facebook Pay winds up being offered globally.

Stiennon said PayPal is “on the defensive” and may find that its transaction fees are a liability. The San Jose-based payments giant, which owns social payments service Venmo, made its own announcement on Tuesday — that its Xoom product would now allow users in the U.S. to send money domestically to family and friends for cash pickup at almost 5,000 locations nationwide.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2019/11/12/analyst-says-facebook-pay-will-dominate.amp.html

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Facebooks Social Payments Platform May Increase It’s Stock By 40%

RBC Capital sees Facebook’s stock climbing more than 40% in the year ahead, especially now that the technology giant unveiled a cross-platform payments service that can unlock “impulse shopping” on social media.

Facebook announced its new Facebook Pay service on Tuesday, saying it will allow uses to securely send payments to each other. While Facebook users had been able to send money through the Messenger app, this links a single system for all four of the company’s social media and messaging apps. Facebook Pay will accept most major credit and debit cards, as well as PayPal.

The company has more than 1.6 billion daily active users on Facebook and over 500 million daily active users on Instagram.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/13/facebook-pay-brings-impulse-shopping-to-billions-on-social-media.html

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American Express Ventures Into Social Payments

American Express entered an agreement to help its cardholders split the cost of purchases with PayPal and Venmo users, according to a a company release. Venmo is the social payments business subsidiary of PayPal.

American Express cardholders can select the purchase in the American Express mobile app, whether it be a restaurant tab, a concert ticket, group vacation, utility bill or other charge and send customized requests to every person they are splitting the bill with.

The agreement also will allow American Express cardholders to pay with loyalty points at merchants that accept PayPal.

https://www.mobilepaymentstoday.com/news/american-express-launches-bill-splitting-with-paypal-venmo/

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Social Payments For Campaign Contributions

A Minnesota lawmaker is seeking campaign donations with a side of emoji.

State Sen. Matt Little announced this month that his re-election committee is accepting contributions via Venmo, the social payment app.

The Lakeville Democrat, 34, sees the fundraising pitch as a way of encouraging people who “can afford $1 or $3 or $5” to participate in the campaign.

“We’re always looking at new ideas and new methods to make it easier and easier to contribute,” he said.

There’s a benefit for the campaign’s bottom line, too. Little said processing costs for traditional online fundraising systems can undercut the impact of small contributions. Venmo offers direct deposits to his campaign with no fees for the committee or the user.

The approach is already resonating with some backers. Little, a freshman Democrat running in a district that President Donald Trump won in 2016, has taken in about $1,000 in Venmo payments so far. Many donors post public messages of support — including emojis — along with the cash transfer.

http://m.startribune.com/a-vote-for-venmo-one-minnesota-lawmaker-gives-fundraising-via-payment-app-a-try/563915862/

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PayPal Launching Traditional Credit Card’s For Venmo

Venmo is moving from enabling payments with emojis on a phone to a more traditional method.

The popular app, owned by PayPal, will offer a Venmo-branded credit card in 2020, the company announced Thursday. Synchrony Financial will handle the banking side of the card.

The app started with peer-to-peer payments and became famous for incorporating a social network with the ability to "like" and comment on friends' transactions. Venmo has since brought in 40 million users, launched a debit card last year and offers a "pay with Venmo" option with partners like Uber.

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2019/10/17/paypals-venmo-is-launching-a-credit-card.html

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Social Payment App Vibe Pay Launches In The UK

Tech entrepreneur Luke Massie has launched VibePay, a new app, to selected customers in the UK.

The ‘Payment Initiation Service’ (PIS) app enables secure direct-from-bank payments via Open Banking technology.

VibePay has been built as an aggregation layer over the Open Banking APIs to create a bank-agnostic payment gateway.

Following the consumer app launch, VibePay for Business will launch later this year – allowing consumers to pay direct from their bank when they’re shopping online.

The app is designed to allow users to create groups for social events and share a unique payment link for friends to pay them back.

A thousand members of what the firm calls its ‘Vibe Community’ have now been invited to test the app for the first time, and will be able to leave their feedback in the VibePay Community Forum.

https://www.businesscloud.co.uk/news/tech-entrepreneur-luke-massie-launches-social-payment-app