Mobile Payments Platform Paydiant Raises $12 Million

Paydiant has announced that they have raised $12 million toward their white label mobile payments and offers program.

The Boston-based company was helped by Stage 1 Ventures, North Bridge Venture Partners and General Catalyst Partners, who pooled funds together, allowing the startup to raise $7.6 million in February 2011, according to ZD Net.

Paydiant announced Tuesday that the company will use the money for product development, sales, and marketing efforts. BostInno reports that Chris Gardner, co-founder of Paydiant, explained the company’s purpose by saying:

“Consumers want to be able to pay with their mobile phones. It’s a huge market opportunity but the most hyped approaches have some fundamental stumbling blocks. One, they require merchants to upgrade their point-of-sale infrastructure at a huge cost. Two, they require retailers and banks to share an incredibly valuable asset – their customer transaction data. Paydiant gives retailers and banks control over this critical customer touch point and all the incremental revenue and customer loyalty opportunities that come with it. We believe this approach will accelerate the adoption of mobile payments and offer redemption and all the advantages they offer for consumers and retailers.”

The platform will provide banks and retailers with a motile payment solution, which will help them quickly move out a branded, contactless mobile wallet, mobile payment, and cash access platform, which will appeal to users who want to make payments using their phones. David Baum, Managing Director at Stage 1 Ventures, who helped with the latest round of funding, stated:

“Stage 1 Ventures has a number of investments in the retail offers and mobile offers arena. We believe that Paydiant’s solution is unique in its ability to deliver integrated mobile payment, offer redemption, and e-receipts today, and have it work with the payment terminals and smartphones available both today and in the future. It’s very well positioned.”

Venture Beat notes that Paydiant is in regional trials with five of the 15 top U.S. banks, and will begin to work on gathering retail partners with the new funding for its mobile payments platform.