Leading mobile payments, ViVOtech gets $24 million

NFC company has partnered with everyone from Google to Citi to drive wallet revolution

ViVOtech, provider of near field communication (NFC) software and systems, announced Monday that it has closed $24 million in a Series C round of funding from several new investors, including Singapore’s EDBI, SingTel Innov8, and Motorola Solutions Venture Capital.

Also participating in the round were the company’s existing backers, which had previously helped ViVOtech raise around $50 million across two rounds. These include Alloy Ventures, Citi Ventures, Draper Fisher Jurveston, DFJ Gotham, First Data Corporation, Miven Ventures, Motorola Mobility, Nokia Growth Partners and NCR.

When it comes to NFC, we’re talking about tech with multifarious uses, from trading simple digital content to managing entire transactions. It’s the latter that has both investors and consumers most excited--paying with a phone isn’t so far off.

While ViVOtech has been around since 2001, the technology for mobile commerce is only recently picking up real steam. This has a lot to do with the rise of smartphones, placing higher-order functionality in the hands of more users.

Perhaps the best and most recent example of mobile commerce going mainstream is Google’s announcement last month that its mobile payment solution, Google Wallet, would be using NFC. Not coincidentally, Google is working with ViVOtech toward the end of turning mobile devices into wallets.

It’s also not surprising to see that ViVOtech and Google share another partner, Citi, which is at least one of the banks looking toward the future of mobile commerce.

“ViVOtech has worked long and hard over the last 10 years to establish ourselves as a leading enabler of in-store mobile commerce,” said ViVOtech CEO, Michael (Mick) Mullagh. “The market is on the verge of rapid growth and we are gratified by the support and validation of our stellar group of strategic and financial investors.”

“In and of themselves our investors represent a mini NFC ecosystem.”

Pushing toward the future of mobile phone payments are ViVOtech, Google (via its Android devices), possibly Apple (in the next iPhone?) and a handful of other mobile and financial companies.

The company says it will use its new funding to accelerate international expansion, though its systems are already used in 35 countries.