CorFire Acquisition Bolsters Mozido’s M-Commerce Presence at Home and Abroad

Mobile-payments platform developer Mozido Inc. expanded its footprint in the budding industry sector with its announcement Thursday that it acquired a majority interest in CorFire, a U.S. m-commerce subsidiary of South Korea-based information-technology provider SK C&C.

Mozido already provides the MoTeaf white-label payments platform as well as various person-to-person, bill-payment, mobile airtime top-up and loyalty-program services to “hundreds” of companies, the Austin, Texas-based firm says. The CorFire acquisition brings under Mozido’s wing the Dunkin’ Brands mobile wallet and relationships with some of the world’s largest mobile network operators (MNOs), including European giant Vodafone. CorFire also provides technology for mobile payments, including near-field communication (NFC) and its variant, host card emulation (HCE). Mozido developed the Dairy Queen app.

“CorFire provides deep experience in m-commerce, payments and NFC solutions, which enriches the Mozido suite of services we can provide to our customers,” Charlie Wiggs, general manager and senior vice president of North America markets at Mozido, tells Digital Transactions News by email. “In addition, CorFire has offices and customers in Europe and Asia, expanding Mozido’s global footprint.” He adds that “CorFire provides Mozido with a more robust NFC/HCE solution, which will complement the MoTeaf cloud platform with its financial, marketing and loyalty solutions.”

Alpharetta, Ga.-based CorFire has worked with some big names in U.S. mobile payments. For example, CorFire was involved in developing the so-called trusted service manager (TSM) software for processor First Data Corp., which Google Inc. used for its Google Wallet service, according to Wiggs. TSMs take care of such functions as provisioning card credentials for mobile payments.

Mozido plans to exploit CorFire’s relationships with MNOs as it develops its mobile-commerce businesses. The company aims its services at an estimated 2.5 billion individuals globally who use mobile phones but don’t have access to traditional bank accounts. “CorFire has mobile engagements with six of the world’s largest MNOs representing over 1.5 billion consumers, so it is a perfect partner for us.” says Wiggs.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. SK & CC will remain an investor in CorFire. “We firmly believe Mozido’s strong mobile ecosystem of partners and customers will further the CorFire brand and mission,” Joe Ahn, executive vice president of corporate development at SK C&C, said in a statement. “As a strategic business partner, SK C&C will actively support Mozido and CorFire, helping to expand their global presence. We believe Mozido has the capital, resources, and talent to significantly appreciate in value.”

Last month, Mozido announced that it would use various payment and security products from MasterCard Inc. to expand its services.