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The Times: 10 of the Hottest Payment Startups in Town
Dec 16, 2011
BOKU’s biggest strength is its relationships with operators. In just two years, it has partnered with 230 operators across 66 countries. By inking deals with both online merchants and mobile operators it allows people to make purchases via their mobile phones that then appear on their mobile phone bills. BOKU has built an impressive network in a short space of time, but the vast majority of its payments are small amounts spent on purchases such as online games. The issue is how this evolves.
Sky News: Holloman Meets BOKU President, Ron Hirson
Dec 13, 2011
This interview is part of the ‘Tech Talk in Silicon Valley’ series which will be published here over the next few weeks featuring some of the biggest and hottest digital businesses right now teaching us about how to succeed in the digital world. Founded in 2009 Boku has raised £23m to make your mobile phone a payment option when you are shopping online. Instead of entering your credit card number when you shop online, just enter your phone number, and the money is charged via your mobile phone bill. To give you an idea of just how hot this company is there was even a rumour that Apple was looking to acquire the company earlier this year. In this video Ron explains how globalisations creates opportunities for start-ups.
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Top 20 America’s Most Promising Companies – #2: BOKU
Nov 30, 2011
Founded in 2008, the company creates software that helps online merchants process payments using a customer’s cell phone number in place of a credit card; it then takes a small cut of each transaction. Big customers include Facebook and Electronic Arts. Has raised $42 million in venture capital from Andreesen Horowitz, Khosla Ventures, and others. Founders Mark Britto, Ron Hirson, and Erich Ringewald have each sold companies they founded or lead.
Wall Street Journal: The Top 50 Venture-Backed Companies
Nov 15, 2011
Venture capitalists are betting that the next Google Inc. or Facebook Inc. will have a name like Xactly, Chegg or Zoosk. In what may be a sign of a re-inflating Web bubble, The Wall Street Journal’s second annual ranking of 50 venture-capital-backed companies shows investors are chasing after Internet firms, many with a consumer focus. To be eligible for the ranking—compiled by research firm VentureSource, a unit of Wall Street Journal owner News Corp.—companies must have received an equity round of financing in the past three years and be valued at less than $1 billion, as the aim is to identify lesser-known contenders. That excludes a number of prominent companies, including Facebook, Twitter and Groupon Inc. Some 5,743 candidates were considered.
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Report: Mobile Wallets Set to Overtake Plastic
Sep 22, 2011
That’s the time frame pegged by the World Payments Report 2011 which projects that mobile payments will make up 15 percent of all credit card transactions in 2013 and are poised to overtake plastic card payments in a decade. The annual report is produced jointly by the nonprofit Efma association, Capgemini consultants and The Royal Bank of Scotland. The U.S. has come late to the mobile payment party, but 2011 is shaping up to be the breakthrough year, experts say.
BlueVia rolls out global payment API with Boku
Aug 30, 2011
BlueVia, the global API program of telecommunication services provider Telefónica, has entered an agreement with US online mobile payments company Boku, to launch a new billing API which enables developers and merchants to link in-app payments to mobile operator bills.
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Boku, BlueVia deal brings in-app purchasing to 295M Telefonica subscribers
Aug 30, 2011
BlueVia is partnering with micropayment platform Boku to let developers incorporate in-application payments. The deal lets BlueVia developers integrate Boku’s mobile payments technology into their apps quickly and easily. As a result of the new partnership, app developers for BlueVia will be able to bill customers and reach consumers that do not currently have access to credit cards or other payment capabilities.
Boku’s Eurotrip Nets Big Mobile Payment Deals
Aug 29, 2011
Like a lot of American tourists, Boku headed to Europe this summer but it came away with more than souvenirs. The mobile payments startup has signed a deal with Telefonica, the huge Spanish communications giant with almost 300 million subscribers, who will use Boku to power its payment API for BlueVia, its global developer program.
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