UK-based Phos, a Fintech firm that provides a software-only PoS to help vendors take payments directly via their phones without requiring additional hardware, has secured €1.3 million in capital.
Phos’ latest round was led by Bulgaria-based New Vision 3, an early-stage venture capital firm (part of the Phos team is currently based in Bulgaria). Several unnamed angel investors also made contributions.
Phos has now raised a total of €2.5 million. The capital acquired will be used to grow the Fintech company’s development team. The platform will be adding new features, including “PIN on Phone,” a software development kit (SDK), and a built-in loyalty system.
Established in 2018, Phos has created special software that can turn NFC-enabled Android devices into a payments terminal, without requiring extra hardware – which helps to significantly reduce the cost of ownership. The company said that its solution can be installed quickly, and is phone and bank agnostic, meaning any bank or financial institution can be the acquirer.
In statements shared with TechCrunch, Ivo Gueorguiev, co-founder at Phos, stated:
“Millions of traders and merchants do not accept card payments because they find the current hardware inconvenient or expensive.”
Gueorguiev added:
“Most of the merchants who accept card payments find the cost of ownership of the hardware high, [while the] current POS hardware offers no additional value, with the exception of very expensive smart terminals like Clover.”
To address this, Gueorguiev notes that Phos’ technology can process contactless card payments directly via Android mobile phones without needing special hardware.
Gueorguiev further explained:
“We offer merchants an alternative to old and expensive technology, namely [by using] devices they already own – their phones. We also offer merchants the ability to use their transaction data for other business applications. This includes e-commerce tools, marketing automation, loyalty, payroll, and more.”