(23 November 2016 – Global) PayKey, an Israel-based startup that allows consumers to make payments through major messaging apps has completed a US$6 million (A$8 million) round of funding backed by investors including Banco Santander, Mastercard.
The firm, which was established in 2014, is a technology provider whose downloadable keyboard lets users connect to their banks and initiate peer-to-peer payments from any social network or messaging app, including WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger or Twitter.
PayKey says its flexible technology can be branded by any bank regardless of its technology platform. For banks, integrating the technology takes place at the API — application platform interface — level and would not clash with their existing security systems.
“As consumers become increasingly comfortable conducting financial transactions on mobile through social apps, it's essential for banks to offer services that cater to these changing behavior patterns in an easy-to-use, secure way,” Daniel Peled, PayKey's chief executive, said in a news release Tuesday.
Santander stated that it had a “longstanding relationship with PayKey” and is working closely with the startup to conduct trials across Santander's markets, Mariano Belinky, managing partner of the Spanish bank’s fintech venture capital fund, said.
Belinky added “[PayKey] can make payments even more accessible and integrated with consumers' digital lives” and that the bank is “actively interested in the potential to bring that value to our customer base.”