Bling Nation Receives CORFO Grant in Partnership with Chile-based Micrologica
PALO ALTO, Calif.-(Business Wire)-February 9, 2009 - Bling Nation, a payments network provider for community banks nationwide, announced it received a $500,000 grant from CORFO, the Chilean economic development agency. The grant will subsidize Bling Nation’s partnership with Santiago, Chile-based Micrologica, an engineering company specializing in the design and development of electronic products for applications in telecommunications, financial services, transportation and related industries.
CORFO grants are given to encourage American technology companies to base their research and development efforts in Chile. This CORFO grant will finance a portion of the salaries of the specialized team employed by Micrologica Innovation, overhead costs, training and travel expenses. Micrologica Innovation, the consortium formed by Bling Nation and Micrologica, is investing $2 million in the development of the hardware and software tools that make up Bling Nation’s service offerings. Product initiatives include mobile payment devices, software applications to support mobile payments in smartphones, wireless point-of-sale machines and contactless payment tags.
“The benefits of Bling Nation having a technology hub in Chile are numerous,” said Carlos Alvarez, president of CORFO. “Chile is a politically and economically stable country. We have an increasing capacity of skilled technicians and professionals, and the government is strongly committed to supporting growth and innovation, as in this case, for instance, through alliances with foreign partners.”
“At a time when technology spending is down for many organizations, it is encouraging to see groups such as CORFO continuing to invest in the future,” said Wences Casares, co-CEO of Bling Nation. “We are very appreciative of the research and development grant and look forward to cultivating innovative products for community banks in the U.S., while encouraging growth and advancement in Chile.”
Bling Nation’s core technology is an integrated issuing and acquiring processing platform designed specifically for local and regional banks. Through its Community Payment Network, Bling Nation enables financial institutions to more profitably support payments between their local demand deposit account (DDA) customers and their merchant customers by bypassing the current global debit payment model with an efficient, cost-effective and local payment network.
“It is our strong belief that community banks should be the beneficiaries of local debit transactions, not global card issuers or large payment providers,” said Meyer Malka, co-CEO of Bling Nation. “Our partnership with Micrologica and the funding from CORFO will further advance our technology and enable community banks to prosper from local transactions, while reducing operating costs for local merchants.”
About Bling Nation
Bling Nation provides community banks with a local payment network, which allows banks to convert potential on-us debit transactions into actual on-us debit transactions by offering consumers secure contactless payments at the point of sale. Bling Nation’s proprietary technology enables transactions to be processed more efficiently than a traditional credit or debit card network, delivering value for the bank, merchants and consumers through its Community Payment Network. For additional information, visit www.blingnation.com.
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