Flutterwave funds UK fintech Dapio in $3.4M round

Dapio, a cashless payment solutions provider for businesses based in the United Kingdom, said today that it has secured $3.4 million to support the launch of its ‘Tap to Pay’ solution for Android users in the United Kingdom and Europe.

The growth round was co-led by Flutterwave, an African payments company, and Techstars. Asymmetry Ventures’ Daniel Gould and PactVC were among those who took part.

Dapio, formerly Paymob — not to be confused with the same-named Egyptian payments processor — enables companies to accept cashless payments in-store by converting the back of any Android smartphone into a direct card reading terminal.

Because of how expensive and clumsy point-of-sale systems may be, it’s difficult for microbusinesses and solo operations, especially those operated by migrants, to invest in hardware and buy them. This has an impact on how they accept money from customers.

In the United Kingdom, there are an estimated 3.2 million of these enterprises. Aside from the difficulty of purchasing these systems, this group, which accounts for 75 percent of all firms in the United States, is underserved by traditional payment providers.