PayPal recently announced that they have acquired mobile payment facilitator card.io, a San Francisco-based company that provides software for developers to use the camera on smartphones to capture and process credit card information. The eBay subsidiary has been using card.io technology with their PayPal Here app but decided to buy the startup after being impressed with their creativity and drive during that project.
Instead of having to enter your credit card information into an app manually, card.io's technology lets the end user simply hold their card up to the rear camera. The software is able to detect, interpret and enter personal data into the necessary blanks on a billing form. It's similar in function to Jumio, a company that uses a webcam to essentially do the same thing.
Employees from card.io will join PayPal's global production team in San Jose to get them involved in projects that simply aren't possible as part of a small startup. PayPal vice president of global product Hill Ferguson says that is exactly why the Zong team was excited to join them last year. The digital wallet acquired that company in July 2011 for approximately $240 million.
Card.io was founded by former AdMob employees Mike Mettler and Josh Bleecher Snyder. The duo raised $1 million in seed funding before introducing their product to the world a year ago.
Card.io's existing technology will remain available to developers for use in their own applications and SDKs for Android and iOS will still be offered. Financial details of today's deal were not disclosed.