Mi-Pay (United Kingdom) - Nov 2007

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01 November 2007

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In a first institutional funding round, Close Ventures has supported mobile payment service provider Mi-Pay Ltd with an investment of £1.8m, taking a minority stake in the business. Close was attracted to the deal, which was sourced through its network of contacts, due to the high growth potential within the sector, as well as by the highly-experienced management team. The new capital will be used to hire additional staff to strengthen the sales team and to develop a range of new services, particularly cashbased top ups. It will also enable Mi-Pay to buy out the minority shareholders of its subsidiary Digital Payments Ltd, which operates a similar business model.

Company

Mi-Pay provides a range of mobile payment services, currently focusing on enabling pre-pay customers to top up their accounts using credit and debit cards directly from their phone or online, while also providing mobile operators with fraud screening and risk management services. The company has built an impressive client base including several large blue-chip companies such as KPN Telfort, Carphone Warehouse, Tesco Mobile and Vodafone. Mi-Pay was established in 2004 and is based in Brookwood, Surrey.

People

Ed Lascelles led the investment for Close Ventures and will join the Mi-Pay board.

Advisers

Company - Afrormosia, Bob Wilkin (Legal)Company - Afrormosia, Bob Wilkin (Legal)Equity - Berwin Leighton Paisner, Ian Ivory (Legal)Equity - Vantis Corporate Finance, James Killing, Rebecca Geurin (Financial Due Diligence)Equity - Whitehead Mann, Carol House (Other Consulting)

Sourced from: UK & Ireland unquote" 358 (Dec 2007)