Powa Readies Its U.S. Move

Powa Technologies has snagged a new $80 infusion courtesy of Wellington Management as it prepares to launch in the U.S.  This comes on top of $76 million Wellington dropped into the mobile payments and e-commerce firm in 2013

Powa now faces the U.S. market with a new $2.7 billion dollar valuation and a profile that represents other new commerce power players such as Uber, Airbnb and India’s Flpkart – among others.

“It’s a huge injection of capital and vote of confidence,” said Powa founder and Chief Executive Dan Wagner, who confirmed the round. “We want to become the ubiquitous platform for mobile commerce and payments.”

Powa will enter the U.S. marketplace to face-off with established players such as PayPal,  Square and Shopify – as well as the burgeoning efforts of Apple, MCX and Google to build their own payments platforms.

Wagner, however believes the mobile space is big enough to accomodate many players, and that Powa’s  “merchants-first’ strategy will bring the firm signifigant advantages in the market.

“If you get the engagement with the merchants, then consumers will follow,” Mr. Wagner said. “We’re about selling, we’re not about payments.”