Aspects Software, an Edinburgh-based provider of smart card
technology, has secured £12 million venture capital funding to
develop secure SIM cards which will enable financial transactions
by mobile phones.
The new SIM cards will let mobile users buy pre-pay credits on
their phones, perform debit or credit transactions and pay for
information from the internet. To date, security of data transfers
has been perceived as one of the biggest hurdles to mobile
commerce, or m-commerce. The funding came from 3i, Commerzbank AG,
Scottish Equity Partners and SFT 99 Technology Fund based in
Helsinki.
Neil Stewart, founder of Aspects and chief executive of its new
subsidiary, mobEcom, said, “The mobile phone can at last evolve to
become a payment device as ubiquitous as the credit card.” He
anticipates that 30% of an estimated one billion new mobile phone
users over the next four years will need the sort of security being
developed by his company.
Aspects is already the largest independent SIM business in the
world. It has a subsidiary in San Jose, USA and a distributor in
Japan.
