Fintech Dapio to launch tap to pay service

UK Finance reported last year that contactless payments accounted for more than a quarter of all payments in the UK

Cashless payment solutions provider Dapio has raised $3.4m (£2.6m) to help launch its Android-based tap to pay service in the UK and Europe.

The investment round was co-led by African fintech unicorn Flutterwave and US seed accelerator Techstars.

Over the last few years cashless payment has been a major area of growth in the UK. The trend was further exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, which saw many businesses exclusively accept cashless payments.

UK Finance reported last year that contactless payments accounted for more than a quarter of all payments in the UK.

Dapio, formerly called Paymob, gives businesses another option to accept payments in an increasingly cashless society. The hardware required for traditional card payments can be expensive and difficult to obtain for smaller businesses.

Kosta Du, Dapio co-founder and CEO, shared his experience with dealing with traditional finances in the UK as a migrant to TechCrunch: I entered the UK a few years ago and initially struggled with getting financial services, like insurance, opening bank accounts, starting accepting payments.

I exactly understand this pain and how difficult it is to go to a bank and go through the exact procedure applied to a big enterprise. My wife also faced a problem when having to send wire transfers to pay clients because these microbusinesses were not eligible for big machines, he said.

Dapio aims to solve this issue by essentially transforming the back of Android smartphones into card reading terminals, which can be tapped like any other contactless card reader.

There are plenty of cashless payment options to compete with, including services run by tech giants like Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay.

Du believes that his company stands out from the crowd because ‘we’re keen to go through embedded finance’.