Now, payment tech firm ToneTag unleashes sound waves across Japan

Bengaluru-based ToneTag has offered its sound wave payment services to Japan’s GMO Payment Gateway, which serves the East Asian country’s National Tax Agency and Tokyo Metropolitan Government, among others.

GMO Payment Gateway is owned by Japan’s information technology giant GMO Internet.

Founded in 2013 by Kumar Abhishek and Vivek Kumar Singh, Bengaluru-based ToneTag claims to have almost reached 100 million customers through its partnerships with US payment giant Mastercard and others, as well as tie-ups with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) of automated teller machines (ATMs).

ToneTag raised funding worth $1 million from Reliance Capital’s venture capital arm in 2015. In late 2016, Abhishek said that ToneTag raised a larger sum in a funding round backed by a slew of angel investors.

Last year, e-commerce giant Amazon and Mastercard reportedly led a funding round in which ToneTag raised up to $10 million. This round of funding followed the announcement of a pilot project by retail payments body National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) on proximity-based payment systems, with ToneTag as one of its partners. ToneTag later went on to partner Amazon to offer the e-commerce giant’s customers contactless payments on offline touchpoints.  

In an interview with TechCircle published a few days, Abhishek said that ToneTag aimed to boost the infrastructure in India with sound waves.