ViVOtech to go public in 2012

The company is capitalizing on demand for payment systems that rely on mobile phones, rather than cash or physical credit cards. As Internet companies, wireless carriers, banks and retailers embrace the technology, ViVOtech expects to become profitable in mid-2012.

ViVOtech has already installed 800,000 contactless readers worldwide, bound to support both contactless cards and NFC. Mick Mullagh says his company has 80% of the US market, with sales both under ViVOtech brand name and under other names. ViVOtech has already conducted more than 30 NFC market trials around the world; it ran a test with Sprint and First Data in San Francisco in 2008, and with AT&T in Atlanta in 2005.

So far ViVOtech has not disclosed its results, but Mick Mullagh says the company’s sales are in “double-digit millions”. Its customers include McDonald’s, Home Depot, Dairy Queen Stores and Rite Aid. ViVOtech has 90 employees, and offices in Santa Clara, California, and Singapore. Until now, ViVOtech has raised US$ 80 million (EUR 55 million) from investors, including Citigroup Inc. and venture-capital firms Alloy Ventures and Draper Fisher Jurvetson. It also has the backing of Nokia Growth Partners; Sprint Nextel; NFC chipmaker NXP; payments processing company First Data; and NCR, which makes ATMs and self-help checkout systems.