AmEx Backs Payfone’s Mobile Check-Out System

American Express (NYSE: [[ticker:AXP]]) is teaming up with New York-based Payfone to create a mobile payment processing service, according to a press release. The two companies plan to combine Payfone’s mobile authorization system with AmEx’s new digital payments platform, called Serve. This will allow consumers to pay for online purchases using their cell phone numbers. Payfone also announced that it closed a $19 million funding round that includes investments from AmEx, Verizon, Rogers Communications, Opus Capital, BlackBerry Partners Fund, and RRE Ventures.

Author: Arlene Weintraub

Arlene is an award-winning journalist specializing in life sciences and technology. She was previously a senior health writer based out of the New York City headquarters of BusinessWeek, where she wrote hundreds of articles that explored both the science and business of health. Her freelance pieces have been published in USA Today, US News & World Report, Technology Review, and other media outlets. Arlene has won awards from the New York Press Club, the Association of Health Care Journalists, the Foundation for Biomedical Research, and the American Society of Business Publication Editors. Her book about the anti-aging industry, Selling the Fountain of Youth, was published by Basic Books in September 2010.