Mobile acquiring solution developer Smartfin, which operates under the 2can brand, has been selected as the first technological partner of national savings bank Sberbank for a pilot project of “Business Tablets.”
The Business Tablet consists of three portable gadgets: a modern tablet computer with an embedded mobile acquiring application; a bank card reader compatible with both magnetic and microchip cash cards; and a wireless portable check printer. In addition, several applications are designed to help Sberbank’s corporate clients “increase business efficiency” and to use banking services remotely.
Among the key functions is a mobile acquiring service for card payment acceptance wherever mobile Internet networks are accessible.
The Business Tablet has been designed to replace more expensive and bulky equipment for bank card acquiring and check printing. Smartfin also claims that set-up and maintenance of payment acceptance equipment will be made possible at a low cost.
“Sberbank is actively developing digital and multichannel services allowing our clients to use financial services at any time and in any place. We intend to achieve the same or even more innovative solutions for corporate clients as well,” stated Mikhail Malakhov, the director of the remote channels development department.
Smartfin’s mPOS platform provided to Sberbank is also being used as a component of the “cloud cash desk,” an experimental project launched by the tax authorities which aims at modernizing and recording payment transactions.
Should the experiment – conducted until February 2015 – be successful and the legislation on payment acceptance equipment amended, a “revolutionary and highly demanded product could emerge,” Smartfin Marketing and PR Director Ekaterina Nikolaeva told East-West Digital News. “A simple smartphone, combined with a card reader for 1,950 rubles (less than $45 at the current exchange rate) and a cheap printer, will be enough to process payment acceptance.”
Fast-growing sales after generous funding
Since inception in 2012, Smartfin has distributed more than 20,000 mobile acquiring devices. The company’s main targets are SMBs in the field of professional services, taxi and excursion services as well as small offline and online shops. Among Smartfin’s larger clients are banks, insurance companies and online stores.
The company’s monthly turnover reached 108 million rubles last month (around $2.3 million at the current exchange rate), or 10 times as much as one year ago, according to Nikolaeva. “This makes us the absolute leader among similar Russian startups,” she says.
Smartfin has been financed generously by venture funds, with a $2 million Series A round in late 2012 and a $5 million Series B round in March of this year. Its main backers are InVenture and Almaz Capital, two major Russian venture funds, as well as investment company ESN Group.
