Romanian POS payment card integration platform SymphoPay raised an investment of 650,000 euros in a funding round led by Romanian Early Game Ventures, local media reported. For Early Game Ventures this is the first investment made on the domestic market, and the round was also supported by GECAD Ventures, Sparking Capital and business angels.
Founded in 2015 in Bucharest, Romania SymphoPay offers traders and banks real-time access to payment terminals and integrates transactions with marketing or loyalty platforms. As stated by the company the SymphoPay the funds will be used for the startup to achieve its vision – to empower the merchant’s ecosystem by transforming the POS devices from simple card readers to smart marketing machines.
“In the merchant-buyer-bank equation, the POS is the only common denominator and their unique point of interaction with those who shop. SymphoPay aims to change its role from a simple card reader to a smart marketing tool, ” said Daniel Nicolescu, co-founder and Managing Partner at SymphoPay.
“Traders are constantly looking for solutions to increase sales and customer loyalty” Nicolescku added. “By integrating the retail component with the entire retail process, a huge competitive advantage is gained given that at the time of payment we have the unique opportunity to launch a new proposal to the customer, restarting the cycle of new sales”.
Reportedly, so far SymphoPay received more than 1.4 million euros of investments. The company’s platform is already integrated with 3 banks and the team is already negotiation with other banks and retailer networks. Furthermore, the solution is certified by the world has known multinational payment networks Visa and MasterCard.
For Early Game Ventures the investment in SymphoPay is consistent with their Infrastructure for innovation. According to their press release, in the future, customers won’t use any device at all — computer vision and facial recognition make possible in-store experiences that are not only cash-free but payment-free – and Early Game Ventures want to be part of that innovation.
“SymphoPay is building the payments infrastructure for the reviving brick and mortar retail industry and we want to be part of this. Their Platform solves today’s problems of banks and traders and at the same time has the potential to orchestrate future integration of other payment solutions such as QR codes or mobile payments. This is the strategic importance of SymphoPay’s middleware platform”says Radu Stoicoviciu, Partner at Early Game Ventures.
Founded in 2018 the Early Game Ventures Fund (EGV) is one of the newest funds in Romania that is mostly funded through the Competitiveness Operational Program 2014-2020 and co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund.
The fund has a target size of 28 million euros and will invest in companies in Romania. Reportedly EGV will always target minority holdings in portfolio companies and the maximum invested amount will be 3.5 million euros per company.
Their focus are companies in the earliest stages whose founders have vested interests, are coachable and address big markets. If the opportunity is real, they prefer to be the first institutional investor in the startups they are interested to invest in.