Visa has signed a host of mobile point-of-sale outfits - including iZettle and SumUp - to its 'Visa Ready Program', giving them the opportunity to secure its seal of approval and gain access to a range of tools.
In addition to iZettle and SumUp, SCCP Group's Swiff has also signed on to the programme to have its mobile acceptance hardware and software tested and approved for use with Visa payments.
Another two outfits - AnywhereCommerce and Miura Systems - have had their Mpos devices approved by the card giant.
As part of the agreements, iZettle, SumUp and Swiff gain access to guidance, best practices, APIs and SDKs from Visa, including reference applications and tools for developing mag stripe, EMV, and mobile acceptance systems.
In select countries, Visa will also enable the three to directly connect to it through the Visa POS Solutions platform or payment gateways such as CyberSource and Authorize.Net.
Another benefit sees the companies get value-added services, such as the ability for merchants to offer instant redemption of special offers at the point-of sale.
Jim McCarthy, global head, innovation and strategy partnerships, Visa, says: "The Visa Ready Program is designed to provide innovators with an easy way to collaborate with Visa and gives merchants and consumers the peace-of-mind they need when transacting with a mobile phone."
Visa has already invested in Mpos leader Square and is betting that the technology will help it gain access to the huge number of small-scale merchants around the world which do not yet accept card payments.
The firm cites Timetric research claiming that the number of Mpos terminals in operation worldwide increased 111% between 2011 and 2012, from 4.5 million to 9.5 million, with the figure expected to reach 38 million in 2017.