Dive Brief:
- Moov Financial, the payment processor, has partnered with Mastercard and Visa to launch a peer-to-peer payment system, the company said in a Tuesday press release.
- The tool lets users send and receive money using an eligible debit card and a mobile phone. With the service, users can send money to others without both parties needing to use the same app, the release said, pointing to that as a differentiator vis-a-vis Block's Cash App wallet, PayPal's Venmo tool and the Zelle service from Early Warning Services.
- “Cash App and Venmo built great experiences, and Zelle built reach inside banks,” Moov’s CEO, Wade Arnold, said in an email by way of a spokesperson for the company. “All three ask people to join their network while putting their own brand at the center of someone's financial life.” By contrast, Moov’s new service is in an app users already have through their bank or credit union, he said.
Dive Insight:
Moov’s new payment service, called Moov Money, integrates its technology with that of Mastercard and Visa to send payments using the recipient’s phone number, other contact information or another payment credential. From there, the tool automatically populates the recipient’s card information, putting an end the need to manually enter card numbers, the release said.
Denver, Colorado-based Moov has built the tool on top of Jack Henry’s digital platform, enabling the P2P service to be available at some 1,000 banks and credit unions, the company’s spokesperson confirmed in an email.
“Consumers get the experience they expect from Cash App, with more reach than any closed network,” Arnold contended. “For a decade, P2P has pulled customers out of their bank's app. Moov Money brings them back."
Moov’s P2P service rollout follows years of fundraising efforts. In 2020, the company raised $5.5 million in seed funding from Bain Capital Ventures and other investors. A few years later, the company brought in another $27 million in venture capital funding from Bain, Andreessen Horowitz and Visa, among other investors. The company has raised about $125 million to date, the spokesperson said.
