Koshla Ventures leads $16 million in venture capital for PayNearMe

PayNearMe is a cash payment service, which used to be known as Kwedit. It recently grabbed $16 million in a new funding round, which brings the company to a total funding of $23.3 million. The funding round was led by Khosla Ventures and backed by August Capital, True Ventures and Maveron. With this occasion, Mark Britto known as the CEO of Boku will become a member of the board of directors.

The services of the company are primarily aimed at consumers who at a certain time do not have access to credit cards and allows them to pay cash for online goods or services. As a user, you can pay by mailing cash or asking friends to pay for you. Now the company launches a new way of payment. A paperless and mobile one. The users can provide their phone numbers and purchase items. They can get a free PayNearMe card from a 7-eleven store and they can reply to a text message with the card`s unique number. The cash and the card are handed to the 7-eleven stores and the payee is instantly notified that the payment has been made.

This method of payment has been tested before the launch and is now being integrated with Amazon, Progreso Financiero, m-Via, Lexicon marketing. Danny Shader, the CEO of the company says that this method of payment is steadily gaining popularity and he strongly believes in his product. There have been plenty of stories of success in this field so the business is viable and we may soon hear of an IPO or buy-out.

The money that were received will be used to add new retailer payment locations and new services.