Mobile payment solutions provider Spindle is making a bigger push into mobile commerce with a recent acquisition of mobile coupon platform Yowza!!

Yowza!! was acquired last week for 1.642 million shares of Spindle’s stock and $500,000 in cash. Spindle plans to leverage Yowza!!’s technology and consumer base to push forward in the mobile payments and marketing space.

“What we were looking for was some additional content, some additional reach, a little bit of tech, we’re just putting another layer on the services we have,” said Bill Clark, CEO of Spindle, Scottsdale, AZ. “The Yowza!! service was the ideal fit for Spindle because of the tech and the customer base and the way they offered their service.

“We will be putting the services together with those that we have, we’ll be doing a little integration and offering some of our services to Yowza!! customers and bringing additional services to consumers with the Yowza!! app, including payment capability and some additional advertising and merchant based offers,” he said.

Bolstering coupons
Yowza!! is a mobile application that leverages geo-location to provide relevant mobile coupons to consumers. The Los Angeles-based company was founded in 2009.

The app lets businesses push real-time offers, track results and reach new customers. McDonald’s, Dunkin’ Donuts and Big 5 Sporting Goods are some of the companies on Yowza!!.

Yowza!! is one of three companies that Spindle has acquired in the last year, suggesting that Spindle is making a bigger push into mobile commerce.

Spindle plans to keep Yowza!!’s team in Los Angeles and collaborate on future projects.

Spindle will add its payments capabilities to Yowza!!’s app, and it will integrate Yowza!!’s coupon platform into its own offerings. Consumers will be able to receive a mobile coupon and redeem it directly from an app.

“We fully intend to put the two companies together and to update the app and the services and deliver those in the market,” Mr. Clark said.

“There will be new services coming, a new app in the app store,” he said. “From a high level, we understand the opportunities. We’re trying to combine the best of both services and put it back to the market.”

Spindle commerce
Spindle provides white-label mobile payment solutions for banks, financial institutions, telecommunication innovators and merchants.

For instance, it recently powered mobile payments for Multi-Max’s K-Cup vending machines (see story).

With the Yowza!! acquisition, Spindle will be able to offer a richer package to merchants, including mobile payments, coupons and marketing.

“We’re looking to lead the charge a bit in the mobile commerce space, and we’ll be doing some forward looking type of commerce coming up at the end of January,” Mr. Clark said.

“We’re trying to lead and combine our services in a unique way,” he said. “We think we’ve built a platform that has utility for both merchants and consumers.

“We’re trying to help speed up the evolution of mobile and get to the point where mobile phones do more and provide value to merchants and consumers.”

Final Take
Rebecca Borison is editorial assistant on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York