Mocapay and VeriFone Holdings Inc. have partnered to help deliver a mobile gift and couponing platform to customers that will be integrated into VeriFone’s payment systems.

VeriFone has certified Mocapay to become integrated in its PAYware Connect gateway. This partnership will allow Mocapay to extend its reach to a broader set of merchants and help quicken certifications with new processors.

“We have a long, ongoing relationship with VeriFone,” said Kevin Grieve, CEO of Mocapay, Denver. “When we announced this partnership one of the things we also identified was VeriFone’s access to the backend payments infrastructure that can give us broader components in the industry.

“We take the Switzerland strategy in that we can be used by any POS, any mobile handset, any gift card or loyalty program by leveraging VeriFone’s structure,” he said. “What you typically see is that a lot of what has to do with payments is done either remotely or at POS and requires chips on the handset or RFID, but our system does not require a new set of hardware.”
 
Mocapay is a mobile commerce platform that supports mobile payments, marketing and distribution at point-of-sale.

VeriFone is a worldwide provider of electronic payment services such as the point-of sale-merchant-operated and consumer-facing self-service payment systems.

With Mocapay’s platform, merchants can mobile-enable existing gift and loyalty programs through payment at the point-of-sale. 

As part of the partnership, gift cardholders can transact at the point-of-sale, access their account balance and transaction history, find the nearest location and reload their account from their mobile phone. 

Additionally, consumers can send mobile gift cards directly to their friends’ mobile phone from their PC.

Mocapay said that its new partnership will provide retailers the tools to send targeted, one-to-one messages and offers to customers.

The technology is better-suited for specialty food, coffee, gas stations, convenience stores and quick-serve restaurants, according to Mocapay.

As part of their deal, VeriFone will add the Mocapay mobile capability in conjunction with other merchant implementations.

Consumers can use their mobile devices a number of ways to redeem loyalty points or use as a gift card, depending on what method the merchant has decided upon.

First, Mr. Grieve said that with existing accounts a consumer can go online and register their mobile device or have the cashier register the handset at point-of-sale.

To actually use the mobile loyalty program or gift card, consumers can verbally give an authorization code to the cashier, the consumer can enter a pin number at the register, if available the consumer can scan their handset with a 2D bar code reader or through near field communication.

In September, Mocapay closed $3 million in funding from Spartan Mobile, Lacuna Venture Fund and other investors (see story).

Mr. Grieve said that the new deal benefits merchants or issuers by providing a point-of-sale system that does not require new hardware. Adding new hardware would be an expensive proposition, he said.

After a consumer signs up for a loyalty card program, Mr. Grieve said that the average consumer generally forgets the plastic or paper card.

“Consumers don’t want to put anything else in a leather wallet, but with mobile consumers can put an infinite number of accounts into a wallet, there isn’t any set of resource constraint around a handset,” Mr. Grieve said.