Self-Checkout Gets A $1M Boost

Digital Retail Apps, the startup behind shopping and self-checkout solution SelfPay, announced yesterday (Aug. 10) it secured $1 million in funding. The funding round was led by Texas Ventures, with additional capital provided by U.S. angel investors.

SelfPay allows customers to use their mobile device to scan in-store items, develop a shopping cart and use a variety of payment methods to purchase shopping cart items in-app. Not only does the platform remove waiting to checkout, but it also drives brick-and-mortar commerce by acting as an interface between the consumer and the retailers’ payments and POS systems.

“We are seeing more and more retailers shift their focus to an app-based payments model, which eliminates the checkout line, as opposed to a tap and pay model,” Digital Retail Apps CEO and founder Wendy MacKinnon Keith in a company release. “App and pay is much more convenient to the shopper because it saves them time – they don’t have to wait in line to pay. Choice in payments and POS is very important and this is exactly why we built a solution that integrates directly to a retailer’s POS system and offers a choice in payment methods. We provide the natural evolution of the existing POS and payments ecosystem by extending it to consumers’ mobile devices, making shopping and paying effortless.”

SelfPay supports numerous payment types, including credit/debit cards, Apple Pay, PayPal and more. Digital Retail Apps said it is in talks with retailers across the U.S., Europe and Canada to bring SelfPay to more consumers.

“We’ve researched many players in the mobile payments space and believe Digital Retail Apps is the leader in this category. Digital Retail Apps’ value is further enhanced by the strength of their IP portfolio including their issued and pending patents, in the United States and other countries, which will help make in-app payments very attractive to brick-and-mortar merchants,” added Scott Crist, CEO of Texas Ventures. “Additionally, their partnership-based approach brings many parties together to create a consistent shopping flow across retailers, payment processors and payment types. We look forward to being a part of this retail transformation.”

Self-checkout options are growing in popularity, especially among millennials.

According to a survey commissioned earlier this year by location-based mobile marketing vendor Retale, millennials were more likely to have used self-checkout (91 percent, versus 81 percent for age 35 and up) and many expressed a desire to have a mobile payment option at self-service checkout kiosks.

“There is a growing demand for more automation and innovation throughout the checkout experience, via integrations with smartphones, wearables and other mobile devices. This will add to the convenience factor that already appears to be key to the experience,” Retale President Pat Dermody said in a prepared statement.

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To check out what else is HOT in the world of payments, click here.

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