UK startup Droplet has announced Chiltern Railways and Airparks as the first national organisations to adopt its m-payment platform. The company’s app allows people to load money onto their phones and send payments for free.

The deals build on a beta trial in Birmingham, which has seen 2,500 users and 60 merchants adopt Droplet as a payment method. It's a good start, but, by their own admission, the company needs the major retail chains onboard if this is to take off. “Our vision is to change the way the world uses money, starting with payments,” says founder and CEO, Steffan Aquarone. “We think that payments should be free because there are no actual costs involved in moving money around. The web is particularly good at de-bunking closed systems and Droplet leverages the power of the internet to do to payments what Skype did to international calls. We’ve proved it works with the trials in Birmingham, but if we are to continue the roll-out we need to attract the national retail chains and this is what we’ve been negotiating over the last couple of months.”

The company is entering a crowded marketplace. It differs from the likes of Square, PayPal Here and iZettle, however, in that merchants don't need to use a custom debit or credit card reader. Rather, customers pay by scanning a unique barcode with their phone when they're at the till. Droplet Tools is also being launched, which enables developers to build customised features for merchants, such as discounts or a reward scheme.

Chiltern Railways and Airparks will be offering it to their customers by the end of April. “At Chiltern Railways we’re keen on embracing new technology, but not simply for its own sake,” comments Thomas Ableman, commercial director at Chiltern Railways. “Droplet solves a problem for us in the cost and limitations of credit card machines. All our staff have company phones, so we don’t need any extra hardware to start taking payment with Droplet across our business.”

Oliver Ashford of Airparks adds: “When you’ve parked your car and you’re on the way to the airport, the last thing you want to do is phone our offices and read out credit card details, name, address and inside leg measurement. The Droplet tool we’re working on will let people shop for meet and greet and valet services using the app on their phone – anywhere in the world.”

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