UPDATED 12:08 EDT / JUNE 27 2011

ViVOtech Raises $24M, Drives New NFC Developments

Santa Clara, California-based NFC hardware and software provider ViVOtech has raised a $24 million series C funding to further its NFC technology development, expanding their reach to more countries. This underscores NFC technology as an important factor in the future of mobile payment and marketing.

Google Wallet, which is technically still on its trial period, has its NFC technology powered by ViVOtech. The company also claims to power the hardware and software behind most NFC readers in the market today. No wonder its getting a good deal of interest lately from investors.

This latest round is participated by investors Singapore’s EDBI, SingTel Innov8, and Motorola Solutions Venture Capital, who were joined by previous investors Alloy Ventures (see disclosure below), Citi Ventures, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, DFJ Gotham, First Data Corporation, Miven Venture Partners, Motorola Mobility, Nokia Growth Partners and NCR. They’ve gotten two rounds of funding before, summing up to $50 million.

NFC is not limited to facilitating payments, but also provides software for marketing promotions, discounts and loyalty programs for retailers to brace their relationship with customers. NFC technology actually acts more of a means for marketing than as a replacement to credit cards.

“Local merchants will be key in spurring the adoption of near field communications, but they won’t be swayed simply by the idea of NFC as a credit card replacement. The real reason merchants will adopt so-called near field communications technology for mobile payments is the promise of more one-to-one mobile marketing through NFC-enabled smartphones,” Michael Mullagh, CEO of Vivotech said.

The company was on the verge of an IPO several years ago, but laid a wager on NFC back on 2001. The company now operated in 35 countries has delivered 800,000 readers worldwide to date.

In other NFC industry trends, the NFC Forum,  a non-profit industry association that advances the use of Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, announced the appointment of MasterCard Worldwide’s James Anderson as the new Vice Chairman of the Board of the Directors. He and NFC Forum Director Debbie Arnold will serve as panelists at the MPA Digital: Technology conference in New York on June 23.

In an effort to promote near field communication, NFC tag supplier UPM RFID unveiled

a new app to help restaurants strengthen customer experience.  To use the app, the customers tap their phone against tagged menus to receive detailed information about entrees, such as ingredients, calorie counts and sodium levels. “Finally, they can use their NFC phone to summon waiters, monitor their orders, request a check and review and pay their bill.” Also, Verizon gained more partners for its own mobile wallet offering.

 


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