[December 10, 2012]

CARDFREE Closes Series A Funding, Launches Integrated Mobile Merchant Platform

Today, CARDFREE, announced the launch of its company and introduced the first fully integrated mobile merchant platform, enabling companies to drive incremental visits, larger ticket size, tender preference and more meaningful consumer engagement under their branded experience. Last month the company closed $10 million in Series A Funding.

The CARDFREE platform combines a full range of merchant solutions, including personalized offers and promotions, mobile payments, loyalty, order-ahead and social media engagement, all of which comes with robust reporting. With the ability to leverage existing integrations into most major POS systems and deep data analytics, CARDFREE gives merchants unparalleled visibility into their customer base.

CARDFREE, headquartered in San Francisco, is part of a portfolio of companies advised by investor and chairman of the board Jeffrey Katz, who founded Mercury Payments Systems, a leading payments processor. The company's executive team is comprised of industry innovators from companies such as Starbucks, mFoundry, CorFire and InComm (News - Alert). Members include Jon Squire, CEO; Dustin Young, president; Chuck Davidson, head of Product; Diane Hong, head of Marketing; and Sen Wen, head of Architecture.

Squire, formerly CMO at CorFire, led Dunkin' Donuts Mobile efforts, and was also SVP of Payments a mFoundry (News - Alert), spearheading Starbucks Card Mobile. Young, with more than seven years at InComm, the global leader in prepaid, introduced disruptive prepaid services across national retail brands. Davidson, category manager, Innovation at Starbucks, conceived, led and launched Starbucks Card Mobile. Hong previously worked at mFoundry as SVP of Marketing, as well as VISA and large advertising agencies working on retail accounts. Wen was Principal Architect and Engineer at Starbucks working on starbucks.com, Starbucks Rewards, Social Gifting and numerous mobile programs including Starbucks Mobile and Square.

Squire commented, "We have reunited the individuals that created the gold standard in mobile commerce deployments. Our goal is to lead merchants to new levels and ensure they remain at the center of their customer relationships, rather than being secondary in third party mobile apps or wallets. We have a fundamental belief that the merchant is the most important piece of the omni-channel ecosystem, and CARDFREE built its platform around that belief. Our team comes from large merchants, vendors who service them and payments enablers; together, we will look to further disrupt the status quo of mobile."

Katz explained, "The CARDFREE team's vision for the company, creating a merchant-centric mobile solution, aligns with my view of where the market is headed. There is a gap in the market for seamless merchant solutions that integrate mobile, online and POS, and merchants are going to be a big driver of mobile commerce in the near future. This talented team is uniquely positioned with the knowledge, experience and connections to continue to lead innovation in the space."

About CARDFREE

From the team that deployed the two largest mobile commerce initiatives in the U.S., CARDFREE offers merchants a one-stop solution to mobilize and enhance the customer experience for maximum ROI. Sharing a track record of bringing innovative solutions to market, our team has a unique 360-degree perspective coming from large merchants, mobile, financial services and payments.

CARDFREE offers complete, integrated solutions for merchants from mobile and online through POS. With the ability to leverage existing integrations into most major POS systems and deep data analytics, our end-to end capabilities give merchants unparalleled visibility into their customer base. The company acts as a white-label partner working behind merchant brands, providing tools that drive incremental visits, larger ticket size, tender preference and more meaningful engagement with consumers.

CARDFREE is headquartered in San Francisco, with portfolio companies in Boston, Denver and Atlanta. For more information, visit www.cardfree.com or contact [email protected].

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