SumUp announces new funding, including Groupon as investor

A double-digit million Euro injection from Groupon, American Express and existing investors will support SumUp’s continued expansion into new markets and strengthen its technological leadership position

London – May 28, 2013

SumUp, the company that enables merchants to take debit and credit card payments with their smartphones, has today announced Groupon (NASDAQ: GRPN) and American Express (NYSE: AXP) as new investors. The investment follows a double-digit million Euro Series A funding round in the second quarter of 2012, from b-to-v Partners, Shortcut Ventures, Tengelmann Ventures and business angels. All of SumUp’s existing investors have contributed further investment alongside Groupon and American Express. San Francisco based Financial Technology Partners (FT Partners) advised SumUp on this transaction.

SumUp will use this investment to support its continued expansion into new territories, and to strengthen its technological leadership position by further building out its end-to-end payment solution, which encompasses a proprietary and certified payments gateway as well as proprietary hardware and operations systems. Part of the funds will be used to support the development of new services with which SumUp will further revolutionise the point-of-sale and build a point-of-sale ecosystem that connects merchants and consumers.

Daniel Klein, CEO, SumUp, explains: “We are delighted to bring on Groupon and American Express as financial investors. Both companies share our vision and our commitment to empowering small businesses. As one of the world’s largest card issuers, American Express is at the forefront of driving innovation in payments. Groupon has proven that it is possible to build a company serving millions of small merchants worldwide in a short period of time. This unique blend of experiences has been a driving factor for us in taking them on as new investors. We are now better equipped than ever to execute on our vision to help make small businesses more successful by radically simplifying payments, reinventing the point-of-sale experience, and ultimately helping enhance merchant-customer relationships.”

Werner Decker, Senior Vice President, Merchant Services Europe, American Express, comments: “American Express is committed to delivering value to small merchants and helping them grow their business. We believe SumUp’s skill set and end-to-end payment solution, which offers ease of use, convenience and security, makes them well positioned to play an important role in mobile payments.”

Jason Harinstein, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development, Groupon, adds: “We are pleased to have the opportunity to invest in SumUp, whom we've identified as an early leader in the emerging mobile payments space outside the U.S. We share a vision to transform the way local merchants interact with their customers and have confidence in the SumUp team's ability to execute against this vision.”

The investment follows SumUp’s recent launch in Russia and partnership with Svyaznoy Group, one of Russia’s largest smartphone retailers and card issuing banks.

Media contact: Robert Bownes | [email protected] | +44 20 7324 6190