Droplet aiming to make Birmingham the first mobile money city

BIRMINGHAM Science Park-based Droplet is launching a phone payment service that it hopes will make its home town the UK’s first mobile money city.

It already has more than 500 users and 30 merchants registered prior to the launch and is now calling on more local retailers to sign-up to an app that will enable customers to carry out payments for goods and services with their phones.

Droplet is a mobile money app that lets people load money onto their phones and send payments to anyone – including retailers – for free. Registered users will be able to top-up their Droplet account on their iPhone or iPad whilst on the move, and keep track of day-to-day expenditure.

The business has successfully completed operational, security, legislative and financial compliance procedures. Now about to enter its ‘beta’ trial in Birmingham, the app is ready for retailers to sign-up online and start to receive payments without paying fees.

Once the simple sign-up process has been completed, Droplet requires only basic contact details to process a peer-to-peer transaction whereas payments to retailers can be made by scanning a barcode at the till point.

Droplet co-founder Steffan Aquarone said: “We have very realistic expectations of signing up thousands of Birmingham-based registered users and merchants in a very short space of time.

“At the moment the world of mobile payments is clumsy and tiresome. Many innovations in consumer finance are solutions looking for problems. We think Droplet solves a problem, that of expensive fees for merchants and the inconvenience people face when they can’t send money to their friends easily, or don’t have cash to hand.”

“There is so much open space for Droplet to jump into and satisfy the pent-up demand from savvy smartphone users who are sold on the concept of alternative payment methods.”

Birmingham merchants already signed up with Droplet include Urban Coffee Company, Centenary Lounge at Moor Street and Snow Hill Stations, Jongleurs Comedy Club and Bodega restaurant.

And city centre visitor attraction Millennium Point is planning Droplet pilots in the next few months.

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