Two Boston startups are buddying up with the hopes of hitting a new stride: LevelUp announced Wednesday that it will provide online payment services to online food delivery company Foodler.
This marks the company’s first attempt to break into the virtual payment space. Chances are, you’ve seen LevelUp’s payment scanners propped up on countertops before; over 8,000 stores and restaurants boast the company’s physical products.
With the Foodler partnership, however, LevelUp is taking its payment tech out of the physical realm and into the world of the Web – a world that is largely dominated by a few big players, like PayPal and Square.
This partnership appears to be pretty similar, yet smaller, to the partnership formed between Square and Starbucks last year; The idea being that Foodler users will be exposed to LevelUp's technology.
Starting on Wednesday, Foodler fans in 13,000 locations in the U.S. and Canada will be able to pay for their takeout treats with LevelUp.
Said Foodler CEO Christian Dumontet:
The future of online food ordering is in mobile. By partnering with an innovative mobile payments company like LevelUp, we are helping our customers earn rewards for something they’re already doing - ordering food from our online platform and mobile apps.
This marks yet another pivot for LevelUp. The startup began as location-based mobile game SCVNGR before branching into mobile payments and rebranding as LevelUp. A rapid expansion, followed by a sudden sunsetting of offices, and a lot of money raised later, the company has been keeping relatively quiet here in Boston since last spring. The company raised another $7.5 million in September 2013.
We're in touch with LevelUp for a statement and will update accordingly.
