Online payments startup WePay is expanding into new territory today with the launch of a new native app for iOS that allows small businesses to invoicing and charge credit cards on the go.
The Y Combinator-backed startup originally formed to make it easier for groups to collect money and make payments together. But recently it pivoted slightly to become ultra-simple platform for businesses to collect and manage payments online. It’s added support for event registration and ticketing, custom invoicing, donations, and e-commerce. Last year, the startup rolled out a white-label payments API and lowered its prices to court third-party developers and debuted an easy way to embed in-line payments.
While Square, PayPal and many others, are focused on allowing merchants and individuals to accept and swipe credit cards, WePay’s app is centered around more of a niche area—allowing those small businesses who send invoices to be able to accept credit cards within the app. Both invoicing and credit card processing cost 2.9% + .30¢ per transaction, and all cards are accepted.
The invoicing aspect is key, says founder Bill Clerico. The user experience of the app is really centered around businesses, such as marketers, contractors, designers and others, who send professional invoices on the go, and want to also accept payments via these invoices. In terms of credit card acceptance, the app just asks for the user to manually input the credit card info and the card is charged.
Clerico explains that WePay looked at developing hardware but didn’t think that developing this was the right fit for the company at the time, Over time, WePay may explore this area, he adds.
WePay has raised a total of $20 million since being founded in 2009, including a $10 million round led by Ignition Partners that it announced in May. Other investors include Highland Capital Partners, August Capital, and angels such as Max Levchin, Ron Conway, Dave McClure, and Steve Chen.
The ability to take credit cards on the go (and invoice) seems like a natural extension for WePay. The company has been growing steadily, processing hundreds of millions of dollars in payments annually, and adding more than 1,000 active merchants per week. This new app should help add even more businesses to the mix.