Cardfree announced the launch of its company and introduced the first fully integrated mobile merchant platform, enabling companies to drive incremental visits, larger ticket size, tender preference, and more meaningful consumer engagement under its branded experience.
Last month, the company closed $10 million in Series A funding.
The Cardfree platform combines a full range of merchant solutions, including personalized offers and promotions, mobile payments, loyalty, order-ahead, and social-media engagement, all of which come with robust reporting.
With the ability to leverage existing integrations into most major POS systems and deep data analytics, Cardfree gives merchants unparalleled visibility into its customer base.
Cardfree, headquarted in San Francisco, is part of a portfolio of companies advised by investor and chairman of the board Jeffrey Katz, who founded Mercury Payments Systems, a leading payments processor.
The company's executive team is comprised of industry innovators from companies such as Starbucks, mFoundry, CorFire, and InComm. Members include Jon Squire, CEO; Dustin Young, president; Chuck Davidson, head of product; Diane Hong, head of marketing; and Sen Wen, head of architecture.
Squire, formerly chief marketing officer at CorFire, led Dunkin' Donuts Mobile efforts and was also senior vice president of payments at mFoundry, spearheading Starbucks Card Mobile.
Young, with more than seven years at InComm, the global leaders in prepaid, introduced disruptive prepaid services across national retail brands. Davidson, category manager of innovation at Starbucks, conceived, led, and launched Starbucks Card Mobile.
Hong previously worked at mFoundry as senior vice president of marketing, as well as at Visa and large advertising agencies working on retail accounts.
Wen was principal architect and engineer at Starbucks, working on the brand's website, Starbucks Rewards, Social Gifting, and numerous mobile programs, including Starbucks Mobile and Square.
"We have reunited the individuals that created the gold standard in mobile commerce deployments," Squire says. "Our goal is to lead merchants to new levels and ensure they remain at the center of their customer relationships, rather than being secondary in third-party mobile apps or wallets.
"We have a fundamental belief that the merchant is the most important piece of the omni-channel ecosystem, and Cardfree built its platform around that belief," he adds. "Our team comes from large merchants, vendors who service them, and payments enablers. Together, we will look to further disrupt the status quo of mobile.
Katz adds," The Cardfree team's vision for the company, creating a merchant-centric mobile solution, aligns with my view of where the market is headed. There is a gap in the market for seamless merchant solutions that integrate mobile, online, and POS, and merchants are going to be a big driver of mobile commerce in the near future. This talented team is uniquely positioned with the knowledge, experience, and connections to continue to lead innovation in the space."
