Powa Technologies, a British mobile payments and e-commerce company, recently raised $80 Mn from Wellington Management, a public markets investor in a Series C funding round. Wellington had also invested $76 million in Powa last year in the Series A round. Powa will be using the fresh funds to promote its U.S. launch during the holiday season and attract merchants to adopt its platform for selling. Powa wishes to compete against other established players like Square, Shopify, Big Commerce and others. Powa is moving into the U.S. market at a time when Wal-Mart, Target and other merchants under the MCX …

One of the most powerful trends to emerge in the retail space recently is making the purchase process more convenient for shoppers. A growing number of retailers are beginning to embrace mobile commerce, hoping to streamline the checkout process and make it possible for consumers to get into a physical store and complete their shopping faster than ever before. As mobile shopping grows in popularity, so too is digital currency, such as Bitcoin. This currency is seen as massively convenient , which could make it a powerful mobile commerce tool. BitPay, one of the leading Bitcoin payment processors, is working …

Toys “R” Us is addressing consumers’ pain points around holiday shopping, with mobile playing a key role streamlining both the in-store and online experiences. The chain’s “Black Friday Made Easy” initiative consists of a range of new services, including digital store-specific maps that can be accessed by scanning a QR code found near the store entrance.  The location-specific digital maps will help smartphone-armed shoppers easily find a specific toy or deal.

Mobile marketing is quickly becoming a contact sport. Automakers such as Ford and Toyota are illustrating how static ads on screens and billboards can quickly generate dynamic ads for the smartphone through the use of near-field communication, the short-range wireless communications technology that's behind Apple Pay and works with a quick tap of the phone. By 2018, IHS expects global shipments of near-field communication-enabled phones to soar to 1.2 billion, up from 275 million in 2013. That opens a wealth of possibilities for marketers to turn smartphones into a more robust marketing medium

In the gold rush that is the Indian ecommerce, payments solution startups are the ones selling the shovel and raking in the moolah. The rising demand for cashless payments on mobile and desktop is proving to be a shot in the arm for several startups building technology solutions to cater to the market that is in the throes of a massive transformation.

What, you ask, is that crashing noise? It's the sound of consumer resistance to mobile shopping crumbling. “Every single transactional property on mobile—whether that's Uber, or Hotel Tonight—is lowering the barrier to make significant transactions on your mobile phone,” says David Tisch. If you can hail a ride and book a room, why would not also want to buy a car or lease an apartment? That's what Tisch is betting on, anyway. He and his brother Alan are the co-founders of Spring, an app that debuted this fall trying to bring the entire world of fashion—high and low—to your phone.

The new Levi's Stadium, home of the San Francisco 49ers, is deploying new wireless beacon technology to help fans use a special stadium navigation app on their smartphones and other devices. The beacon signals, which have been in use since Aug. 2, run over Bluetooth Low Energy (4.0) and are being used in conjunction with the 68,500-seat stadium's vast Wi-Fi and switching infrastructure.

People with Windows Phones will now be able to make mobile payments thanks to a new application from AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile. The new Softcard app was released for Windows Phone last week, giving the platform one of its first mobile wallets that is supported by a wide range of retail companies. Softcard, formerly known as ISIS, is a mobile payment company that has been growing in popularity for some time, offering consumers an effective mobile wallet with a wide range of features. Using Softcard, a consumer can store their financial information on a mobile device.

Uber’s partnership with Resy to let consumers book a prime-time table at a New York restaurant and then order and pay for taxi transportation via smartphone is the service sector’s latest effort to meet the growing demand for convenience sparked by the mobile mind shift. The integration reduces to just five screen taps the process of making a reservation and arriving at the restaurant.

J.P. Morgan analyst Tien-tsin Huang was in attendance at Money20/20, and provided a summary of the event in a note to investors on Thursday, a copy of which was provided to AppleInsider. At the conference, attendees were abuzz about Apple Pay, the recently launched mobile payment service from Apple available on the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. In particular, industry insiders view how Apple partnered closely with existing banks and credit card providers as a model for others to follow. Payment industry insiders view Apple Pay as a true "disruptor" that could have long-term ramifications for near-field communication-based payment terminals, and transactions in …