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DoubleBeam Inc., a mobile retail and point-of-sale company, has bought mobile POS system maker GoPago for an undisclosed sum. This counters a report last week that suggested e-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc. acquired GoPago.
San Francisco-based GoPago, founded in 2009 and backed by a 2012 investment of an undisclosed amount from JP Morgan Chase & Co., offers merchants a tablet-based POS system that includes payment processing, cellular connectivity, sales reporting, data aggregation, and a mobile storefront and mobile payment via an app.
Pasadena, Calif.-based DoubleBeam offers services that can integrate a retailer’s existing mobile applications and POS systems. The addition of GoPago’s products means DoubleBeam can offer both the mobile and POS components.
Technology blogging site TechCrunch reported that its sources say Amazon bought GoPago’s technology and engineering team, while DoubleBeam purchased the point-of-sale part of GoPago. But Tekippe says DoubleBeam purchased all of the GoPago assets, including existing customer relationships, intellectual property and trademarks. “According to my understanding, Amazon liked the technology we now own and purchased a license to use it as they wish. They also hired a number of engineers who formerly worked for GoPago,” he says.
Last week, Amazon became the suspected buyer of GoPago after Vincenzo Di Nicola, a GoPago co-founder and its chief technology officer, was quoted in La Repubblica, an Italy-based newspaper, that Amazon had purchased the firm. That is now known not to be the case. “Yes, this is the same company found at GoPago.com,” DoubleBeam chief executive Ted Tekippe tells Digital Transactions News. “DoubleBeam has no affiliation with Amazon.”
“We\'ve been speaking with GoPago for some time and have been very impressed with the robust and innovative POS technology they've built, including the consumer-facing order-ahead mobile apps,” Tekippe says. “We\'ve also long felt there was tremendous synergy between our products, and we intend to add our mobile remote deposit capture for check processing to the GoPago POS tablets, as well as embed e-check payments into the consumer app to help merchants save a ton on transaction fees. We also intend to roll many of GoPago\'s features out to our existing clients.”
Tekippe says the convergence of the two products will help merchants better engage customers and save time and money with mobile commerce. Tekippe would not disclose the purchase price. And, for the time being, he says the GoPago brand remains in place.
