LevelUp is getting serious about bringing new apps onto its payment platform. The company has announced a partnership with payment processor Merchant Warehouse co-sponsoring a $1 million development fund to support the creation of custom-branded mobile payment apps that run on LevelUp's white label platform.

Qualifying merchants will be eligible to receive up to 25 percent of the cost of a custom-developed LevelUp white label mobile payment and loyalty app, the partners said. Using LevelUp's platform will also mean seamless integration with the Merchant Warehouse Genius customer engagement platform.

"More and more merchants are looking for ways to engage their customer base across multiple channels," said Henry Helgeson, CEO of Merchant Warehouse. "Mobile gives merchants a tremendous opportunity to know their customers better than ever before. LevelUp and Merchant Warehouse want to give more merchants the opportunity to extend the reach of their brand and tap into a wealth of customer data to help them grow their businesses."

Merchants using LevelUp's white label approach will be able to integrate mobile payments, loyalty programs and security into their own branded applications. They can also use the Merchant Warehouse Genius platform to take customer data from the LevelUp app and use it to create targeted marketing campaigns through their applicatons.

"The Merchant Warehouse and LevelUp $1 million development fund is an awesome opportunity for even more merchants to keep building brand loyalty while growing their business," said Chris Mahl, chief revenue and strategy officer at LevelUp. "Merchant Warehouse has been a key partner in distributing the LevelUp platform to small businesses as a part of our strategy to scale nationwide."

Read more about mobile/digital wallets.