February 06, 2012 08:00 AM Eastern Time
Equity Investment That Includes Dallas Venture Partners (DVP) and Datacard Group Solidifies a Continued Commitment to Innovation in Mobile Payments.
MINNETONKA, Minn.--()--Datacard Group, the world leader in secure ID and card personalization solutions, today announced an equity investment and strategic partnership with DeviceFidelity, Inc. – a company that develops Near Field Communications (NFC) based plug-and-play technologies, services and payment applications for mobile devices worldwide.
“DeviceFidelity continues to drive the development of NFC-enabled technology and Datacard Group has extensive expertise in card issuance and smart card personalization, which makes the strategic partnership an ideal fit”
This partnership enables Datacard Group to offer DeviceFidelity’s In2Pay® suite of solutions which use microSD technology to transform smartphones into interactive contactless mobile payment devices. Financial institutions and wireless carriers will now be able to easily issue consumers a credit, debit, prepaid or multi-account mobile wallet that can be used at contactless point-of-sale terminals.
“DeviceFidelity continues to drive the development of NFC-enabled technology and Datacard Group has extensive expertise in card issuance and smart card personalization, which makes the strategic partnership an ideal fit,” said Deepak Jain, president and CEO of DeviceFidelity. “Our combined capabilities and expertise now enable a high volume, flexible and integrated NFC microSD issuance and mobile personalization model for our customers.”
DeviceFidelity’s patented In2Pay solution includes microSD cards, as well as the iCaisse—which is a microSD-enabled protective case for iPhones—that enable issuers to offer a variety of mobile payment solutions, giving consumers the flexibility to use their existing smartphone without having to change mobile phone providers or upgrade the device. The technology also fits with advanced multi-partner wallet programs that have a trusted service manager (TSM) infrastructure, and can be deployed independently from handset makers and telecom operators. In addition, it is fully compliant with payment networks – making it market ready and easy to deploy.
“This partnership effectively expands on Datacard Group’s integrated Secure Issuance Anywhere™ platform, which provides our customers the freedom to manage programs exactly the way they want,” said Russell St. John, senior vice president of global marketing for Datacard Group. “And, as NFC technology continues to be adopted throughout the world, financial institutions will have a great opportunity to capitalize on this by easily complementing their card programs without having to make major infrastructure changes to their existing processes. This enables continuity and consistency between issuing traditional plastic cards and new NFC-enabled applications.”
Datacard Group is joined by Dallas Venture Partners (DVP) as an equity partner in DeviceFidelity. DVP is a Dallas-based firm whose mission is to become the financial partner of choice for technology companies seeking to build world-class businesses.
"Our goal is to invest in companies that can transform global markets and we feel that DeviceFidelity is strongly positioned to make a powerful contribution to the growth of mobile financial services throughout the world,” said Matt Himelfarb, managing partner of DVP. “We are excited about this investment and we look forward to working with Datacard Group to propel DeviceFidelity’s growth.”
About DeviceFidelity
DeviceFidelity, Inc. develops plug-and-play technologies that empower a variety of institutions to deploy their services and applications on millions of mobile phones worldwide. Its patent- pending In2Pay® microSD and In2Pay® iCaisse solution transforms popular mobile phones into an interactive contactless transaction device. Using this technology DeviceFidelity launched moneto, the world’s first commercially available mobile payment solution for iPhone and Android. Committed to bringing contactless innovation to the mobile phone, the company has numerous patents pending in both U.S. and international patent offices. DeviceFidelity is a private corporation with headquarters in Texas and offices in California and London. For more information about DeviceFidelity, visithttp://www.devicefidelity.com, follow us on Twitter @DeviceFidelity or at facebook.com/DeviceFidelity. For more information on moneto visit http://www.moneto.me, follow us on Twitter @moneto_me or at facebook.com/monetome
About Datacard Group
Datacard Group is building on a 40-year heritage of innovation and customer success. Our portfolio of solutions, backed by expert service and support, enable card and secure ID programs for financial, government and other markets worldwide. With an unmatched commitment to customer satisfaction, Datacard remains the industry’s leading brand of secure ID and card personalization solutions.www.datacard.com
About Dallas Venture Partners
DVP is a Dallas-based venture capital firm that invests in early and growth stage technology companies with strong management teams and transformative technologies. The firm actively pursues investment opportunities in both seed and early stage institutional rounds. DVP’s mission statement is to become the financial partner of choice for technology entrepreneurs seeking to build a world-class business, but the firm is open to partnering with other venture firms and investment groups depending on the opportunity.www.dallasventurepartners.com