Apple acquires mobile payments startup Mobeewave

Apple is expanding its mobile payments efforts with Mobeewave. The iPhone maker has bought the Canadian startup for about $100 million, according to Bloomberg.

Mobeewave has developed a method for smartphones like iPhone to be used as mobile payments terminals. The startup’s technology works with an app and the devices with NFC feature, avoiding dongles, cables or extra hardware. Consumers can simply tap their credit card or phone on another phone to make their payments.

“Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans,” said an Apple spokesperson.

Details about the payments service on Apple’s land are still unreported, but Mobeewave’s solution tends to focus on secure transfer of credentials over existing hardware protocols. We can expect to see something similar in the Apple ecosystem given there’s Apple Pay and Apple Card that could make a good use of Mobeewave’s technology, especially for small businesses.

Last year, Samsung had partnered with Mobeewave allowing its users to use the service on their phones. Samsung’s venture arm is also an investor in the startup, which has raised more than $20 million, according to PitchBook.