Sr. Pago (Señor Pago), one of the two largest mobile point of sale (mPOS) services in Mexico, today announced the closing of a seed round of $1 million in funding that includes Silicon Valley tech veterans Jay Adelson and Barrett Lyon.
The funding comes after last month's launch of the Sr. Pago Card System, the first service in the Americas that combines a smartphone credit card reader with a debit card that can be reloaded with payments accepted through the card reader. Provided in conjunction with MasterCard and Te Creemos, the Sr. Pago Card System is offered to individuals and small businesses in Mexico that have been underserved by existing banking services.
"As we're using technology to transform the informal cash-based financial ecosystem that comprises much of the economy of Mexico and other nations, we are pleased to have some of the top tech visionaries from the Silicon Valley onboard," said Pablo González Vargas, CEO of Sr. Pago. "Jay and Barrett bring years of entrepreneurial experience building successful technology companies, and we look forward to their counsel as we expand operations and secure additional funding."
The Sr. Pago Card System provides a secure, chip-based debit card, a chip card reader that connects to any smartphone or tablet, and an app for managing transactions. This enables individuals and small businesses to accept credit card payment for the services they provide, transfer that money to a MasterCard debit card, and then make purchases with the card at MasterCard's worldwide acceptance. The card reader will process both traditional magnetic strip cards as well as secure chip-based cards, so the card reader is significantly more advanced than existing magnetic-only readers.
"Sr. Pago has the key characteristics I look for in a startup: an innovative solution to a specific market pain, strategic partnerships, a seasoned team, and a long-term vision that has a positive impact on society," said Jay Adelson. "I'm especially excited to see this from a company located outside of the traditional technology ecosystems such as Silicon Valley."
Jay Adelson is a serial entrepreneur, having built companies such as Equinix (EQIX), Digg, Revision3 and SimpleGeo. In early 2013, he founded Opsmatic, where he currently serves as Chairman and Founder.
Barrett Lyon is the founder of four companies, including Prolexic Technologies (acquired by Akamai for over $400M), Defense.Net (acquired by f5 Networks), XDN, Inc. (acquired by Fortinet) and BitGravity, Inc. (acquired by Tata Communications). He is a pioneer in the fields of security and networking and will be advising Sr. Pago in these areas.
"61% of the population of Mexico (more than 73 million people) are unbanked, with their payment and spending transactions restricted to cash," said Antonio Flores Aldama, CTO & COO of Sr. Pago. "These unbanked include middle class professionals, entrepreneurs and small businesses (architects, restaurant owners, lawyers, taxi drivers, door to door salespeople, business owners, etc.). Most of them also have smartphones which provides the opportunity for Sr. Pago to offer an innovative technology solution for them."