The Santander Innoventures Fund has announced that its first investment is a $5 million equity stake in mobile payment and loyalty provider MyCheck.

The venture will allow Santander’s retail and commercial customers around the world to benefit from MyCheck’s technology, which allows users to check into venues, pay securely, and receive relevant offers and information with their smart device.

The move also kicks off a Series B funding round for MyCheck, which was founded in Israel in 2011, and has seen a 320 per cent growth in transaction volumes in the last six months after shifting to a technology platform approach.

The firm currently focuses on enabling the payment experience in private label apps for restaurant groups and chains, and providing ‘MyCheck Inside’ capabilities to other app providers that want to reach the hospitality market.

The funds from Santander will be used to accelerate MyCheck’s international expansion – especially across the US and Western Europe – bolster sales and marketing, and enhance business intelligence capabilities. As part of the deal, MyCheck will be able to leverage Santander’s expertise and scale, reaching over 107 million retail and commercial customers across 10 main markets in Europe and the Americas.

Mariano Belinky, managing director of the Santander Innoventures Fund, said: “We established the Innoventures Fund to support startup FinTech companies who are at the cutting edge of digital delivery of financial services and in MyCheck we have found this. The investment in MyCheck highlights our leadership in financial technology, investing in services which seek to benefit customers in their everyday financial transactions.”

Share Story: