Leaf, a Cambridge, MA-based provider of a tablet specifically designed for commerce, closed $20m in first funding.
The backer was Heartland Payment Systems (NYSE: HPY), a large payments processor and a provider of merchant business solutions. In addition to the investment, Heartland has also joined Leaf’s network of distribution partners.
The company intends to use the funds to advance manufacturing capabilities of its LeafPresenter and expand its team of developers and employees to grow the LeafBusinessTM application and the Leaf AppstoreTM.
Led by Aron Schwarzkopf, co-founder and CEO, Leaf provides retail stores, restaurants, and other local merchants with a mobile payment platform that offers a core payment product, business management, analytics, and customer engagement.
The Leaf platform consists of.
– the LeafPresenter is a tablet built specifically for business with technology including a magnetic stripe card reader, near field communication (NFC), Europay MasterCard Visa (EMV), and front- and rear-facing cameras to accept payments via traditional payment cards, gift cards, PayPal and LevelUp, and a number of mobile wallets;
– LeafBusiness is a cloud-based business analytics and management portal that provides insight for small business owners and helps them make sense out of their data;
– the Leaf Appstore, currently in beta, is designed to create an ecosystem enabling the developer community to create new applications that run on the LeafPresenter, integrate with LeafBusiness, and assist merchants in better managing their businesses and engaging with customers.
FinSMEs
01/10/2013