Sunnyvale, California-based PayNearMe has raised $20 million for its fifth funding round, VentureBeat reported. The round was participated in by GSV Capital, August Capital, Khosla Ventures, Maveron and True Ventures. Proceeds will be used for the firm's geographic and category expansion plans. Formerly called Kwedit, the most recent funding round brings to $65.6 million raised by the payments platform.
PayNearMe is a solution that allows those who still prefer to pay with cash to conduct online transactions. The transaction network allows people to purchase products and make online payments using cash. This means they can pay their bills or rent, pay back loans, buy tickets and others, the report said.
Businesses that allow PayNearMe will be putting this option on their payment page. Clients simply choose this option and will simply need to print out a payslip or bring their PayNearMe card to any of the participating 7-Eleven, Family Dollar and ACE Cash Express stores nearest them where they will pay for their purchases in cash. The merchant is then informed that the payment has been made. To confirm the transaction, a receipt is given to the customer, the report said.
According to the FDIC, there are 10 million households in America that don't hold bank accounts while 24 million are "underbanked." Moreover, 21% of households say they don't need or want to open a bank account. There are some who don't like to have anything to do with banks while others think that the fees and minimum balance requirements too expensive. Still others have a negative banking history, the report said.
However, a growing number of commerce and business transactions now take place online. As a result, financial services like PayNearMe that offer cash lovers the chance to still conduct Internet transactions are on the rise. PayPal has also ventured into this front with the release of its PayPal My Cash Card more than a year ago, the report said.
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